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MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

OF 

LOCKE  CRAIG 

GOVERNOR  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 
1913-1917 


A  History — Political  and  Otherwise 

From  Scrap  Books  and  Old  Manuscripts 
Edited  By  May  F.  Jones 


1923 

HACKNEY  &  MOALE  COMPANY 

ASHEVILLE 


f 
> 


TO: 

My  son,  Locke  Craig,  Jr.,  who  has  been 
the  redeeming  grace  of  my  years  of  afflic- 
tion. At  all  times  and  in  all  ways  he  has 
ministered  to  me,  not  as  a  duty,  but  as  a  pe- 
culiar pleasure.  Whether  at  boyish  play,  or 
waking  from  the  sweet  sleep  of  childhood,  he 
has  ever  heard  my  call  swiftly  and  with 
gladness.  By  this  devotion  he  will  be  blessed 
in  the  growth  and  beauty  of  an  unselfish 
character. 

As  an  alabaster  box  of  precious  ointment 
he  has  been  to  my  life,  and  I  hope  that  it 
will  be  told  as  a  memorial  of  him  too. 

LOCKE  CRAIG. 


« 
*  ■ 


This  book  is  the  work  of  Miss  May  F. 
Jones.  While  Governor  of  North  Carolina, 
she  was  my  Private  Secretary,  and  kept  a 
scrap  book  of  my  public  utterances  and  inci- 
dents of  my  administration.  I  have  turned 
over  to  her  this  scrap  book  and  all  my  manu- 
scripts with  full  confidence  in  her  ability,  her 
culture  and  interest.  She  has  generously 
offered  to  prepare  these  for  the  press,  and 
can  do  this  most  efficiently. 

While  Governor,  and  during  the  years  of 
my  illness,  she  has  been  my  loyal  friend.  I, 
and  my  family,  owe  her  an  inestimable  debt 
of  love  and  gratitude. 

LOCKE  CRAIG. 


INDEX 

PART  I 

PAGE 

Governor  Craig,  Sketch  by  Artus  Moser 11 

Extract  from  Speech  on  the  Tariff 16 

Joint  Debate  Between  Locke  Craig  and  James  M.  Moody  20 

Introducing  William  Jennings  Bryan 22 

Tribute  to  Industry 24 

Campaign  of  1898 25 

Campaign  Speech  on  Suffrage  Amendment 32 

On  Resolution  for  Impeachment  of  Judges 56 

Joint  Debate  with  Senator  Pritchard 71 

The  Democratic  Convention  of  1906 89 

The  Energy  of  Democracy 100 

Address  of  Welcome  to  the  Travelers'  Protective  Asso- 
ciation of  America 107 

Carlyle    113 

Accepting  the  Democratic  Nomination  for  Governor 126 

PART  II 

The  Widow's  Son,  a  Poem  by  Dr.  Geo.  T.  Winston 145 

The  Inauguration   146 

Inaugural   Address   153 

Opening  of  the  Great  State  Fair,  1913 167 

Needs  of  North  Carolina  Along  Educational  Lines 170 

Introduction  of  Vice-President  Marshall  at  Charlotte 175 

Address  to  the  Scottish  Society  of  America 177 

The  Legacy  of  the  Confederacy 180 

Opportunities  to  State  and  Nation  Through  Triumph  of 

Democratic  Principles   184 

Accepting  the  Bust  of  Judge  William  Gaston 192 

Accepting  the  Statue  of  Chief  Justice  Ruffin 193 

Accepting  the  Bust  of  Judge  W.  P.  Bynum 194 

Inauguration  of  Edward  Kidder  Graham 195 

Commutation  of  the  Sentence  of  Ida  Ball  Warren 197 

Introducing  President  Wilson 199 

Commencement  Address,  A.  &  T.  College,  Greensboro 199 

Commencement  Address,  School  for  the  D.  &  D.,  Morgan- 
ton   201 


INDEX— CONTINUED 

PAGE 

Zebulon  Baird  Vance 203 

Opening  of  the  Great  State  Fair,  1916 214 

Our  Opportunity 222 

Mount  Mitchell 224 

The  Account  of  His  Stewardship 227 

Presentation  of  Governor-Elect  Thomas  Walter  Bickett 246 

Asheville's  Welcome  Home  to  Locke  Craig 247 

To  the  Departing  Soldiers  of  the  World  War 252 

Argument  in  Case  of  Railway  Companies  v.  Commissioner 

of  Revenue 255 

Bishop  Kilgo 281 


GOVERNOR  CRAIG 

"The  career  of  Ex-Governor  Locke  Craig,"  is  the  title  to 
an  interesting  article  regarding  the  life  of  one  of  Buncombe's 
honored  sons,  which  was  written  by  Artus  M.  Moser  and  ap- 
peared in  The  Carolina  Magazine. 

Governor  Craig,  who  maintains  his  residence  near  the  Old 
Hickory  Highway,  overlooking  the  Swannanoa  River,  is  one 
of  the  twenty-two  Governors  of  North  Carolina  which  the 
State  University  has  produced.  Mr.  Moser,  in  his  article, 
gives  a  few  reminiscences  of  Governor  Craig's  college  days, 
as  well  as  the  things  he  did  after  leaving  the  University.  The 
article  follows  in  full: 

"Prominent  among  the  great  men,  who  in  their  early  days, 
walked  beneath  these  sturdy  campus  oaks  and  studied  in  these 
ancient  halls,  is  Ex-Governor  Locke  Craig,  Governor  of  North 
Carolina  from  1913  to  1917. 

"The  Craigs  were  originally  from  the  romantic  land  of 
Scotland.  The  parental  ancestor,  William  Craig,  was  born 
there,  and  came  to  this  country  in  1749,  and  settled  in  Orange 
County.  He  had  three  sons,  John,  David  and  James,  ardent 
patroits  and  soldiers  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  John  was  the 
grandfather  of  Andrew  Craig,  and  the  great  grandfather  of 
Locke  Craig. 

"Andrew  Craig,  the  father  of  Locke  Craig,  was  an  honor 
graduate  from  the  University,  and  though  born  of  Presby- 
terian family,  he  became  a  Baptist  minister  of  great  influence, 
power  and  eloquence.  He  was  a  scholarly  man  of  fine  tastes 
and  literary  attainments.  His  life  was  spotless  and  his  large 
generous  and  amiable  nature  caused  him  to  be  loved  and  ad- 
mired by  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 

"The  mother  of  Locke  Craig  was  Rebecca  Gilliam  Craig. 
She  was  a  fine  type  of  womanhood,  strong  minded,  handsome 
and  helpful;  gentle  and  gracious  in  disposition.  She  num- 
bered her  friends  by  the  score,  and  neither  she  nor  her  hus- 
band ever  knew  what  it  meant  to  have  an  enemy.  She  was 
essentially  a  home-loving  wife  and  mother,  and  her  chief  pur- 
pose in  life  was  to  make  happiness  for  her  husband  and 
children.    The  Civil  War  ended,  Mr.  Craig  died,  leaving  Mrs. 


12  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

Craig  a  widow,  with  a  small  estate  and  two  boys  not  yet  in 
their  teens  to  be  educated.  It  was  a  time  of  reconstruction, 
depression  and  confusion,  but  her  heroism,  fortitude  and 
clearness  of  vision  fitted  her  well  for  the  task. 

"Locke  Craig  was  born  in  a  modest  home  in  Bertie  County, 
August  16,  1860,  just  in  the  beginning  of  the  struggle  be- 
tween the  North  and  South.  His  boyhood  days  were  spent  on 
the  farm  amid  a  healthful  and  wholesome  environment.  Until 
he  was  fourteen  years  of  age  he  attended  the  common  schools 
of  Bertie  County.  At  this  age  his  mother  sent  him  to  Hender- 
son, to  the  Horner  School,  where  he  finished  preparing  himself 
for  college.  When  he  was  at  the  early  age  of  fifteen,  he 
entered  the  University  of  North  Carolina  with  the  Class  of 
1880.  He  was  the  youngest  student  in  the  institution,  and 
while  the  years  had  been  few  he  was  exceedingly  ambitious 
and  had  taken  advantage  of  every  opportunity  to  improve  him- 
self and  make  a  mark  for  himself  in  the  world.  At  the  uni- 
versity he  was  among  several  of  the  future  great  men  of  the 
State,  such  as  Aycock,  Francis  D.  Winston,  R.  W.  Winston, 
Mclver,  Alderman,  and  others.  He  has  been  found  ever  since 
among  the  greatest  of  the  great  men  of  the  State.  While  at 
the  university  he  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Philan- 
thropic Society,  in  which  he  held  various  offices,  including  that 
of  President.  He  was  an  able  speaker  and  at  commencement 
was  elected  commencement  orator  without  opposition.  He 
was  also  an  excellent  writer,  being  considered  the  best  in  his 
class.  He  was  a  diligent  student,  always  devoted  to  duty. 
While  here  he  studied  law,  and  before  he  had  reached  his 
twentieth  birthday  he  was  graduated  from  the  university  with 
the  honors  of  his  class,  the  youngest  graduate  of  the  institu- 
tion. 

"Finishing  his  work  in  the  university  he  was  appointed 
Assistant  Professor  of  Chemistry  for  one  year.  He  evidently 
liked  teaching,  for  we  find  that  during  the  next  session  he 
taught  in  a  private  school  in  Chapel  Hill.  But  he  was  not 
satisfied  with  the  lowlands  of  Orange  County,  so  he  decided  to 
go  to  the  land  of  promise  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge,  amid  the 
highlands  of  Buncombe.  So  in  1883  Locke  Craig  located  in 
Asheville.    He  intended  to  practice  law,  but  found  that  clients 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  13 

were  less  plentiful  than  attorneys,  and  expenses  had  to  be 
met.  So  teaching  again  appealed  to  him  and  for  a  while  he 
taught  in  a  school  there.  In  1891  he  began  the  practice  of 
law  in  earnest,  and  soon  took  his  place  among  the  most 
popular  and  ablest.  He  soon  became  a  potential  factor  in  the 
material  and  political  life  of  the  growing  mountain  city.  He 
was  soon  making  speeches,  telling  anecdotes  and  catching  the 
spirit  of  the  mountaineers.  Asheville  was  then  in  the  Ninth 
Congressional  District  and  in  1892  Craig  was  the  Democratic 
Elector  from  that  District.  Four  years  later  he  was  named 
as  Elector  at  Large.  This  campaign  offered  him  the  first  real 
opportunity  to  show  his  ability  and  leadership.  By  his  bril- 
liant canvass  of  the  State  for  the  presidential  candidate,  Wil- 
liam J.  Bryan,  he  established  his  reputation  as  an  orator  and 
from  the  mountains  to  the  sea  he  presented  his  cause  to  the 
people.  The  Republican  Party  was  at  that  time  in  control  of 
Buncombe  County  by  a  majority  of  600,  but  when  he  was 
nominated  in  1898  by  the  Democrats  for  the  Legislature  from 
Buncombe,  he  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  700,  reversing  the 
Republican  majority  of  600.  This  only  goes  to  show  his  great 
popularity  in  both  parties. "  The  General  Assembly  of  1899  is 
now  considered  as  one  of  the  remarkable  gatherings  in  the 
history  of  the  State.  Men  of  great  ability  were  gathered  to- 
gether from  every  section  of  the  State.  Among  them  Locke 
Craig  easily  took  his  place  as  one  of  the  ablest  and  foremost. 

"The  campaign  of  1900  came  on  and  he  was  again  elected 
by  an  increased  majority.  This  campaign  is  yet  remembered 
by  the  mountain  people  as  one  of  the  fiercest  and  most  ex- 
citing ever  held  in  that  section  of  the  State.  Charles  B.  Ay- 
cock,  a  former  classmate  of  Craig's,  opened  the  campaign  at 
Laurinburg.  The  two  great  men  were  together  on  the  open- 
ing day,  both  advocating  the  same  things  for  the  progress  and 
advancement  of  the  Old  North  State. 

"In  1903  Locke  Craig  was  a  candidate  for  the  United  States 
Senate,  but  in  the  convention  system  of  election  he  was  de- 
feated. Had  it  been  by  popular  vote  as  now  he  would  have 
been  elected  by  a  good  majority.  However,  like  Lincoln,  he 
may  have  lost  the  senatorship,  but  he  laid  the  foundation  for 
an  office  which  offered  him  an  opportunity  for  still  greater 


14  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

service  to  his  fellowman.  During  the  interval  from  1903  to 
1912  he  practiced  law  in  Asheville.  In  addition  to  his  law 
practice  he  also  did  some  farming. 

"In  1912  he  was  elected  Governor  of  North  Carolina.  His 
election  marked  the  culmination  of  the  dreams  of  the  'moun- 
tain men'  as  well  as  other  men  in  whatever  section  of  the 
State.  All  were  pleased  to  bestow  this  honor  upon  him,  and 
he  accepted  it  with  gladness,  because  it  offered  him  a  still 
greater  opportunity  to  serve  the  State  and  Nation.  During 
the  campaign  wherever  he  spoke  the  people  came  for  miles  to 
hear  him,  and  he  was  greeted  by  ovation  after  ovation  as  he 
toured  the  State. 

"Locke  Craig  was  inaugurated  as  the  State's  Chief  Exe- 
cutive on  January  15,  1913,  and  held  his  office  until  1917,  dur- 
ing the  greater  part  of  the  World  War.  In  constructive 
achievements  his  administration  has  not  been  surpassed,  if 
ever  equalled,  since  Vance  rebuilt  the  Commonwealth  upon 
the  ruins  of  the  reconstruction  days.  In  the  first  sentence  of 
his  inaugural  address,  he  uttered  the  watchword  of  his  entire 
administration  in  the  phrase,  The  Pledge  of  Progress.'  It 
would  be  out  of  place  in  an  article  of  this  length  to  attempt  to 
recount  and  dwell  on  all  the  measures  for  progress  and  ad- 
vancement which  were  accomplished  under  his  leadership.  In 
everything — in  education,  in  agriculture,  in  manufacturing — 
the  State  went  forward.  One  of  the  outstanding  things  was 
the  adjustment  of  interstate  freight  rates,  which  enabled 
North  Carolina  to  compete  with  other  States.  The  saving  to 
North  Carolinians  has  amounted  to  millions  of  dollars,  and 
greatly  aided  commercial  and  industrial  enterprises.  Next 
was  the  improvement  of  our  public  highways,  and  the  estab- 
lishing of  the  good  roads  movement.  This  movement  swept 
the  entire  State,  and  Governor  Craig  became  known  as  the 
'Good  Roads  Governor.'  The  rate  of  improvement  was  set 
and  the  spirit  of  this  movement  is  still  abroad  in  the  land — 
the  State  is  still  building  good  roads.  A  third  and  notable 
achievement  under  the  leadership  of  Governor  Craig  was  the 
purchase  and  preservation  of  Mount  Mitchell,  which  was  se- 
cured by  the  State  to  be  used  as  a  State  Park.  As  time  goes 
on  the  wisdom  of  this  act  will  become  more  and  more  evident. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  15 

Mount  Mitchell,  in  Yancey  County,  is  the  highest  point  east 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  fine  balsam  and  spruce  forests 
on  its  summit  and  on  its  sides  were  at  that  time  beginning  to 
be  cut  for  lumber.  To  preserve  the  original  beauty  of  this 
lofty  peak  and  its  nearby  forests,  a  commission  was  appointed 
by  Governor  Craig,  which,  with  an  appropriation  from  the 
Legislature,  purchased  a  1200-acre  tract,  in  the  possession  of 
which  the  State  may  well  take  pride. 

"Another  notable  act  was  that  which  regulated  the  in- 
dustry and  conservation  of  the  fishing  business  in  Eastern 
North  Carolina,  where  the  industry  will  become  increasingly 
important  as  the  years  go  by. 

"Governor  Craig  left  the  governor's  chair  having  literally 
spent  his  energy  and  strength  in  the  service  of  the  people. 
But  he  had  achieved  that  for  which  he  was  elected,  with  a 
great  deal  of  credit  to  himself  and  the  entire  approbation  of 
the  people  of  the  State. 

"Governor  Craig  now  lives  at  his  home,  a  few  miles  from 
Asheville,  near  the  beautiful  Swannanoa  River.  His  life 
is  more  retired  than  in  some  days.  He  is  devoted  to  his 
home,  family  and  church.  He  has  a  wife  and  three  sons, 
Carlyle,  George  and  Arthur.  One  of  the  boys,  George  Craig, 
a  graduate  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  is  practicing 
law  in  Asheville  and  is  achieving  success. 

"In  personal  appearance  Locke  Craig  is  of  medium  height, 
possessing  a  fine  intellectual  brow  and  face,  heavy  eyebrows, 
dark  penetrating  eyes,  and  firm  lips  and  chin.  He  presents  a 
very  impressive  appearance,  and  possesses  a  wonderful  mag- 
netism. I  have  seen  the  crowd  'go  wild'  on  sight  of  him,  the 
applause  and  cheers  lasting  unusually  long.  As  an  orator,  he 
is  a  master.  His  voice  is  inspiring  and  thrilling,  and  the  au- 
dience is  soon  lost  in  his  eloquence.  The  University  and  North 
Carolina  love,  admire,  and  honor  Locke  Craig." 

NOTE:  The  above  sketch,  which  appeared  also  in  The  Asheville 
Citizen,  was  highly  appreciated  by  Governor  Craig,  but  through  in- 
advertence, the  author  omitted  the  most  important  of  events  in  the  life 
of  the  Governor,  and  that  was  the  birth  of  Locke  Craig,  Jr.,  November 
11,  1914,  in  The  Mansion,  at  Raleigh. 

In  addition  to  the  above  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  at  the  commence- 
ment exercises  of  the  State  University  in  1915,  the  Governor  was 
honored  with  the  degree  of  LL.D.,  which  honor  from  his  Alma  Mater 
he  always  highly  appreciated. 


16  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

EXTRACT  FROM  SPEECH  ON 
THE  TARIFF 

NOTE:  This  speech  was  made  at  Big  Ivy,  Buncombe  County, 
North  Carolina,  during  the  second  campaign  of  President  Cleveland,  in 
which  the  Tariff  was  the  issue.  This  is  the  first  political  speech  made 
by  Locke  Craig.  He  was  at  that  time  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  and 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  in  Asheville. 

(From  The  Asheville  Citizen,  Oct.  28,  1888) 

When  the  Saracens  invaded  Africa  they  found  in  one  of 
the  provinces  an  immense  Idol  in  monstrous  human  shape,  and 
uglier  than  the  devil.  But,  nevertheless,  in  their  superstition 
the  natives  worshipped  it  and  thanked  it  prayerfully  for 
everything  good  that  they  received,  and  when  anything  bad 
happened  to  them  they  attributed  it  to  something  else.  And 
the  old  thing  was  hollow,  and  for  ages  the  people,  poor  as 
they  were,  had  given  to  it  their  money  and  their  treasure  and 
jewels  and  whatever  was  best  they  had.  When  the  Saracen 
soldiers  told  them  that  this  old  thing  was  no  god,  but  a  fetich, 
and  that  they  were  a  set  of  fools  for  worshipping  it,  they 
thought  these  soldiers  guilty  of  blasphemy  and  that  the  first 
one  that  dared  to  lay  his  hand  on  it  would  be  stricken  dead, 
and  the  whole  army,  too,  for  the  sacrilege ;  and  so  they  stood 
in  breathless  awe.  But  when  blow  after  blow  had  been 
stricken,  and  the  old  thing's  sides  were  broken  in,  and  yet  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  were  as  firm  and  peaceful  as  ever,  and 
nobody  hurt  at  all,  the  people  began  to  think  sure  enough  it 
was  no  god,  and  they  rose  up  and  helped  the  soldiers  to  tear 
down  the  old  thing  and  burn  it  up.  And  the  vast  treasures 
which  had  been  accumulating  for  ages  in  its  hollow  sides  were 
distributed  among  the  poor  of  that  country. 

Now  we  have  just  such  an  Idol  in  this  country  and  they 
have  named  it  Protection ;  and  Jas.  G.  Blaine  is  the  great  High 
Priest  in  the  temple  Monopoly,  and  Benjamin  and  Levi  are  the 
chief  priests,  and  Lusk  and  Ewart  and  Hardwicke  are  the 
altar  boys ;  and  whenever  the  country  is  prosperous  and  every- 
thing goes  on  well  and  we  have  peace  and  fine  weather  and 
good  crops,  James,  the  High  Priest,  says  solemnly,  "O  Goddess 
Protection!  we  know  that  thou  art  the  giver  of  every  good 
and  perfect  gift,  our  only  salvation,  and  that  thou  hast  de- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  17 

livered  us  from  lightning  and  tempest,  from  plague,  pestilence 
and  famine ;  from  battle  and  murder  and  from  sudden  death." 
And  Benjamin  and  Levi  and  Virgil  and  Hardwicke  echo  Amen ! 
and  all  the  Republican  congregation  cry  Amen!  and  of  course 
the  colored  brother,  although  he  doesn't  know  what  all  this 
big  talk  about  tariff  and  protection  means,  will  never  be  out- 
done, especially  in  any  religious  demonstration,  so  he  shouts 
"Amen !  Brer  Jeems  and  Brer  Wergil,  say  dat  agin." 

And  so,  my  countrymen,  in  this    way    these    Republican 
leaders  are  taking  advantage  of  the  ignorance  of  these  poor 
deluded  people  of  this  country  and  fooling  them  out  of  their 
money,  and  the  products  of  their  toil,  and  the  substance  of 
their  living.     Yes,  slaves  to  this  miserable  fetich  of  "Protec- 
tion" they  are  marching  up  in  solid  phalanx  and  pouring  into 
the  old  hollow  thing  all  that  they  have  by  hard  labor,  though 
they  are  needy,  though  they  are  ragged,  though  sometimes 
they  are  haggard  and  hungry,  though  their  wives  are  shiver- 
ing with  cold,  and  though  their  little   ones    are   crying    for 
bread.    But  the  wealth  doesn't  remain  in  this  Idol  as  it  did  in 
the  one  in  Africa,  for  they  have  cut  a  hole  in  the  back  of  this 
fetich,  and  there,  out  of  sight  of  the  poor  ragged  congregation, 
Carnegie  and  Jay  Gould  and  these  monopolists  are  taking  the 
money  out  just  as  fast  as  the  deluded  people  put  it  in,  and 
they  count  their  wealth  by  millions,  and  live  in  marble  palaces 
and  wear  purple  and  fine  linen,  and  fare  sumptuously  every 
day,  while  the  people  who  have  made  this  money  are  dragged 
down  to  the  lowest  depths  of  poverty  and  despair.    But  while 
this  game  of  deception  and  thievery  is  going  on,  there  enters 
their  temple  of  Monopoly,  unceremoniously,  a  man  who  will 
not  bow  to  the  Idol,  who  will  not  say  Amen,  he  is  not  afraid  of 
the  anathemas  of  James  the  High  Priest,  nor  of  all   the 
worshippers  of  Protection  combined.     Yes,  he  may  appoint 
some  negroes  to  office  and  do  some  other  things  that  we  do 
not  like,  but  he  is  a  man  "a  very  man — with  all  his  dross  he 
is  a  man,  real,  from  the  bosom  of  nature  herself."    He  defies 
the  fetich ;  he  tells  the  congregation  and  all  the  people  of  the 
world  that  Protection  is  no  god,  but  a  fetich,  a  hollow  sham, 
a  miserable  lie,  and  that  he  will  tear  it  down.    In  holy  horror 
all  men  expect  that  he  will  be  stricken    dead.     But    he    is 


18  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

stronger  than  ever,  for  even  James,  the  High  Priest,  trembles, 
declines  the  contest,  but  exhorts  Benjamin  and  Levi  to  have 
courage.  Struck  dead !  the  old  fetich  totters ;  a  grateful  people 
hail  him  chief  with  shouts  of  victory  and  crown  him  with 
immortal  praise!  With  giant  hand  he  will  strike  down  for- 
ever the  iniquitous  thing,  for  he  is  the  leader  of  the  armies 
of  Truth  and  Righteousness,  and  the  God  of  Hosts  is  with  him ! 
When  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  preached  the 
Gospel  at  Ephesus,  he  created  no  small  stir,  for  he  preached 
against  a  religion  which  many  believed  to  be  the  source  of 
their  happiness  and  prosperity;  they  said  that  believing  in 
Diana  they  had  built  a  magnificent  city,  and  had  come  to  be 
a  mighty  and  prosperous  people ;  and  they  attributed  all  these 
blessings  to  the  worship  of  this  heathen  goddess.  When  Paul 
told  that  Diana  was  no  goddess,  that  her  worship  was 
mockery,  they  raised  a  great  uproar,  and  howled  down  the 
preacher  of  Truth,  shouting,  "Great  is  Diana  of  the 
Ephesians !"  But  who  was  it  that  was  instigating  the  uproar  ? 
It  was  Demetrius,  the  silversmith,  and  his  fellow-craftsmen 
who  made  silver  shrines  for  Diana,  and  wrought  no  small  gain 
unto  themselves;  and  when  Demetrius  had  called  them  to- 
gether he  said,  "Sirs,  ye  know  that  by  this  craft  we  have  our 
wealth.  Moreover,  ye  see  and  hear  that  not  alone  at  Ephesus 
but  throughout  all  Asia,  this  Paul  hath  turned  away  much 
people,  saying  that  they  be  no  gods,  which  are  made  with 
hands:  so  that  not  only  this  our  craft  is  in  danger  to  be  set 
at  naught,  but  also  that  the  temple  of  the  great  Goddess, 
Diana,  should  be  despised,  and  her  magnificence  destroyed, 
whom  all  Asia  and  the  world  worshipeth."  And  it  was  when 
they  heard  these  sayings  that  they  were  filled  with  wrath 
against  the  new  religion,  and  raised  the  uproar  and  cried  out, 
saying,  "Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians!"  So  today  when 
Carnegie  and  these  monopolist  millionaires  see  that  this 
Grover,  not  only  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  but  through- 
out all  the  Union,  hath  persuaded  and  turned  away  much  peo- 
ple, saying  that  Protection  is  no  god;  and  seeing,  more- 
over, that  the  craft  which  brings  them  no  small  gain  is  in 
danger  to  be  set  at  naught,  they  give  their  millions  to  defeat 
the  champion  of  the  Truth,  and  tell  the  people  that  by  the 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  19 

Goddess,  "Protection,"  this  has  come  to  be  a  mighty  nation 
with  magnificent  industries  and  that  they  are  kept  from  pau- 
perism. Some  will  not  see  through  these  shallow  hypocrisies, 
and  cry  with  them,  "Great  is  Protection  of  the  Americans." 
But  the  Temple  of  Diana  was  burned  and  upon  its  ruins  was 
raised  the  proudest  church  of  ancient  Christendom.  All  the 
shrines  and  worshippers  of  Diana  have  passed  away,  but  the 
truth  that  Paul  preached  will  stand  when  heaven  and  earth 
shall  pass  away!  When  this  fetich  worship  of  "Protection" 
shall  be  swept  away,  free  trade  in  all  its  full  and  logical  sense 
shall  be  established,  we  will  have  no  millionaires  and  no  pau- 
pers, but  a  free,  prosperous  and  happy  people  from  where  that 
Goddess  of  Liberty  rises  with  her  beacon  hand  from  the  surges 
of  the  Atlantic  far  away  over  mighty  rivers  and  broad  empire 
states  to  where  the  waves  of  another  ocean  beat  gently  on 
golden  sands.  The  men  who  love  justice  and  freedom  are 
rallying  around  the  standard  which  Grover  Cleveland  has 
raised.  From  every  state  in  the  Union  they  come.  From 
New  York  and  Michigan  and  Indiana  and  Illinois  they  are 
coming  in  resistless  power  as  with  the  swell  of  mighty  waters, 
as  with  "the  tramp  of  embattled  hosts!" 


20  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

JOINT  DEBATE  BETWEEN  LOCKE  CRAIG 
AND  JAMES  M.  MOODY 

NOTE:  This  account  of  Mr.  Craig's  speech,  at  Waynesville,  N.  C, 
October  15,  1894,  appeared  in  The  Asheville  Citizen  on  the  following 
day.  While  the  speech  is  not  reported  in  full,  the  sketch  is  vivid,  and 
gives  a  good  impression  of  Governor  Craig's  power  before  an  audience. 
He  said  this  was  the  beginning  of  his  reputation  as  a  speaker.  In  the 
campaign  of  1894  both  he  and  James  M.  Moody,  who  was  afterwards 
a  member  of  Congress,  were  running  for  the  State  Senate.  Moody  was 
elected,  however,  as  the  State  went  Republican  by  a  large  majority, 
only  seven  Democrats  being  elected  to  the  General  Assembly  of  1895, 
which  preceded  by  two  years  the  beginning  of  the  long  to  be  remem- 
bered administration  of  Daniel  L.  Russell,  the  second  Republican  Gov- 
ernor of  North  Carolina  since  the  War  Between  the  States. 

Waynesville,  N.  C,  Oct.  13. — This  has  been  a  great  day 
for  the  Democracy  of  old  Haywood.  There  was  a  large  crowd 
of  representative  men  from  all  parts,  a  great  speech  and  great 
enthusiasm.  This  was  the  culmination  of  what  is  probably 
the  best  campaign  ever  made  in  this  county. 

Mr.  Moody  led  off  in  a  fifty  minutes  speech  (for  he  did  not 
speak  his  time  out.)  He  presented  the  Republican  side  in  as 
fair  and  as  able  manner  as  it  could  have  been  presented. 
Mr.  Moody  is  a  lawyer  and  a  good  one,  and  speaks  as  an  at- 
torney for  the  defense  in  this  great  action  being  tried  before 
the  people.  He  finished  his  speech,  which  was  a  good  one  for 
his  cause,  and  sat  down  amidst  the  most  overwhelming  and 
enthusiastic  silence.    The  traditional  welkin  refused  to  ring. 

Mr.  Craig  then  rose.  Before  he  had  been  speaking  ten 
minutes  every  man  in  the  house,  except  those  around  him  in 
the  bar,  Democrat,  Populist  and  Republican,  was  standing  on 
his  feet.  He  disposed  of  what  few  so-called  arguments  Mr. 
Moody  had  made  in  a  few  moments  and  then  laid  him  out  in 
grand  style.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  the  young  man 
actually  seemed  to  be  inspired.  Every  eye  in  the  house  was 
fastened  on  the  face  of  the  speaker,  glowing  with  the  in- 
tensity of  inspiration.  No  report  can  possibly  do  justice  to 
his  speech,  the  equal  of  which,  the  oldest  men  who  heard  it 
say,  was  never  made  in  Waynesville  by  any  man,  old  or  young. 

Everybody  was  spell-bound.     Old  men  wept,  young  men 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  21 

went  wild,  Populists  opened  wide  their  mouths,  and  Repub- 
licans were  absolutely  thunder-struck.  Even  Mr.  Moody- 
seemed  dazed,  if  not  hypnotized.  Dr.  Wells,  of  Clyde,  said, 
"It  was  a  succession  of  electric  cloudbursts";  that  he  had 
heard  great  speakers  all  over  the  Union  and  had  never  heard 
it  surpassed.  Mr.  Hall,  late  of  Alabama,  said  he  had  never 
heard  any  better  speech  anywhere.  Mr.  Tom  Lee  said  that 
everybody  pronounced  it  the  greatest  political  speech  they  had 
ever  heard.  Mr.  James  Ferguson  said  it  was  the  best  speech 
by  far  that  had  been  made  in  Waynesville  since  the  campaign 
began.  In  fact,  everybody  agreed  that  it  was  indeed  a  great 
speech  for  Democracy  and  one  that  undoubtedly  won  many 
votes. 


22  '    ' '"'        MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 


INTRODUCING  WILLIAM  JENNINGS 
BRYAN  IN  ASHEVILLE 

NOTE:  The  first  time  Mr.  Craig  ever  introduced  Mr.  Bryan  was 
in  1896,  during  Bryan's  first  campaign  for  the  presidency.  Mr.  Craig 
was  then  Elector  at  Large.  On  this  occasion  there  was  assembled  in 
Asheville  the  largest  audience  that  perhaps  has  ever  gathered  for  any 
political  speaking,  the  crowd  being  estimated  at  twenty-five  thousand. 
The  great  Commoner's  star  had  risen  to  its  zenith,  and  the  following 
speech  of  Mr.  Craig,  from  The  Asheville  Citizen,  is  expressive  of  the 
hope  and  enthusiasm  of  the  democracy  of  North  Carolina  in  the  famous 
campaign  of  1896. 

Years  afterwards,  Governor  Craig  laughingly  said,  when  intro- 
ducing Mrs.  Bryan  at  her  first  appearance  before  an  Asheville  audience, 
in  1917,  that  he  had  won  his  reputation  as  a  speaker  introducing  her 
illustrious  husband,  and  that  he  now  proposed  to  extend  that  reputation 
by  introducing  her. 

(From  The  Asheville  Citizen,  Sept.  16,  1896) 

At  4:15  Hon.  Locke  Craig  began  his  speech  of  introduction 
of  Mr.  Bryan.  Mr.  Craig  said:  "Half  a  century  ago  Henry 
Clay,  while  a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  addressed  the  peo- 
ple of  North  Carolina  from  the  eastern  portico  of  our  capitol. 
Again  we  are  honored,  and  with  the  deepest  emotions  of  grati- 
tude and  admiration,  with  souls  ablaze  with  enthusiasm  for 
the  cause  of  humanity,  this  vast  multitude,  as  with  the  voice 
of  the  whirlwind,  sends  forth  its  shout  to  welcome  within  the 
borders  of  our  Commonwealth  the  grandest  of  the  tribunes  of 
the  people. 

"A  short  time  ago,  comparatively  unknown,  the  effulgence 
of  his  genius  burst  upon  the  astonished  gaze  of  men,  and  he 
in  our  midst  is  the  most  conspicuous  personage  on  earth.  In 
that  historic  convention  at  Chicago,  amid  the  tumult  of  dark- 
ness and  doubt  and  uncertainty,  he  flashed  the  light  that 
brought  order  out  of  chaos.  As  with  trumpet  call  he  sounded 
the  note  of  the  holy  war  against  the  great  iniquity,  he  stands 
forth  today  the  splendid  leader  of  the  mighty  hosts  of  a  re- 
juvenated, a  purified  and  a  triumphant  Democracy  to  restore 
the  heritage  of  our  fathers,  to  write  upon  the  immortal  page 
of  history  a  sound  declaration  of  American  independence. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  23 

"In  the  citadels  of  plutocracy  with  words  of  living  fire  he 
hurled  his  denunciations  against  the  grinding  greed  of  op- 
pression. With  a  strength  that  never  tires,  with  a  courage 
that  never  shrinks,  with  a  faith  that  never  falters,  he  pleads 
the  cause  of  the  lowly  and  fires  with  victorious  assurance  the 
patriot  hearts  of  the  sons  of  the  Republic.  There  are  times 
in  the  lives  of  nations  when  the  souls  of  men  glow  with  a  fire 
that  cannot  be  quenched — it  is  that  divine  moral  force  that 
defies  the  power  of  gold.  It  is  more  resistless  than  the  tread 
of  imperial  armies.  Guided,  sustained,  swept  on  by  the  power 
of  Almighty  God,  we  are  marching  in  ranks  that  cannot  be 
broken.  In  this  great  crisis  of  our  country's  life,  in  this 
eventful  struggle  of  humanity,  we  stretch  forth  our  arms  and 
look  with  inspired  hope  on  the  glorious  manhood  of  our  young 
leader,  for  we  know  that  on  him  rests  the  benediction  of  One 
who  came  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor.  I  present  to  you 
William  J.  Bryan." 


24  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

TRIBUTE  TO  INDUSTRY 

(From  A  Speech  Made  In  1896) 

I  shall  never  forget  with  what  emotion  I  saw  and  heard 
for  the  first  time  in  operation,  a  large  cotton  mill. 

I  have  stood  upon  the  dome  of  Mount  Mitchell  at  midnight, 
while  beneath  me  the  storm  thundered  in  terrific  rage  and 
power,  the  clouds  shot  electric  fire,  and  the  awful  artillery  of 
Heaven  was  unlimbered.  The  giant  oak  and  granite  boulders 
were  uprooted,  and  hurled  booming  and  crashing  into  the 
abyss  amid  the  mighty  battle  of  the  elements,  as  of  primeval 
chaos. 

I  have  stood  upon  the  sand  dunes  of  Hatteras,  and  seen 
the  stampede  of  hurricanes  from  equatorial  storm  fields,  as 
they  swept  over  the  seething,  tumultuous  Atlantic  in  unbridled 
force  and  destruction  from  tropics  to  polar  sea. 

But,  when  I  stood  in  that  great  cotton  mill  and  listened  to 
the  song  of  a  thousand  looms,  and  the  music  of  thousands  of 
spindles,  it  was  finer  and  grander  than  mountain  storm  or 
ocean  hurricane.  It  was  a  marching  Hymn  of  universal 
progress.  The  energy  that  wrought  the  havoc  of  the  storm 
had  been  harnessed  and  trained  by  the  genius  of  man  to  do 
the  service  of  man.  This  chorus  in  the  recitative  of 
triumphant  industry  sounds  around  the  world,  to  feed  and  to 
clothe — to  liberate  the  toiler  from  ancient  bondage — to  beat 
down  poverty  from  its  hopelessness  and  degradation — to  bless 
all  God's  children  to  a  higher  life — answering  the  prayer: 

"Thy  Kingdom  come,  Thy  will  be  done." 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  25 


CAMPAIGN  OF  1898 

NOTE:  The  campaign  of  1898  has  long  since  become  a  part  of 
history,  with  its  victory  bringing  redemption  to  the  State  from  Repub- 
lican mis-rule.  This  campaign  was  bitterly  fought  out  on  the  hustings 
by  the  ablest  leaders  of  the  State,  every  section  giving  of  its  best  in 
the  hour  of  need.  The  News  and  Observer,  of  Raleigh,  in  an  editorial  on 
the  morning  of  the  inauguration  of  Locke  Craig  as  Governor,  calls  to 
mind  in  eloquent  remembrance  the  service  rendered  by  him  in  1898  and 
1900: 

The  people  of  North  Carolina  will  never  forget  the  great 
campaign  of  1898,  the  most  important  in  the  life  of  this  gen- 
eration, or  the  campaign  of  1900  when  the  suffrage  constitu- 
tional amendment  was  ratified.  The  very  life,  industrially  and 
politically  of  the  East  was  at  stake.  Its  people  were  aroused,, 
but  the  question  of  the  hour  was :  "Will  the  West  understand 
our  sore  needs  and  come  to  our  assistance?"  The  amendment 
was  not  popular  in  the  West.  It  put  a  burden  upon  the  militant 
Democracy  of  that  battling  ground,  where  every  inch  won  by 
the  Democrats  was  won  in  hand  to  hand  conflict  with  a 
vigorous  and  resourceful  political  enemy.  In  that  supreme 
moment,  Locke  Craig,  the  voice  of  Vance's  home  and  Merri- 
mon's  home,  speaking  for  himself  and  his  people,  rang  like  a 
bell  declaring  that  the  cause  of  Bertie  was  the  cause  of  Bun- 
combe, the  cause  of  Halifax  was  the  cause  of  Haywood,  the 
cause  of  Craven  was  the  cause  of  Cherokee,  and  that  to  pre- 
serve good  government  and  its  splendid  civilization  the 
mountain  Democracy  would  spend  and  be  spent  to  the  last 
man.  He  made  the  sacrifice  to  run  for  the  Legislature  in  Bun- 
combe, and  won  a  victory  unparalleled  in  that  county  by  the 
most  courageous  and  glorious  campaign  in  its  history.  In  the 
Legislature  he  was  a  potent  leader.  On  the  stump  he  was  in 
the  West  what  Aycock  was  in  the  East.  He  never  counted  the 
cost  when  principle  was  at  stake.    *    *    * 

A  MAMMOTH  MEETING 

NOTE:     While  Mr.  Craig  was  canvassing  in  Eastern  North  Car- 
olina, he  was  unanimously  nominated  for  the  Legislature  by  the  Demo- 


26  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

crats   at  home,   and  imperatively  called  back  to  Buncombe   County  to 
make  the  canvass  there. 

The  account  of  his  closing  speech  at  Asheville  is  from  The  Citizen 
of  November  3,  1898: 

Perhaps  never  in  the  history  of  Asheville,  certainly  not 
within  the  memory  of  the  present  generation,  has  been  wit- 
nessed such  a  political  gathering  as  that  which  assembled  in 
the  Grand  Opera  House  last  evening. 

Grandmothers  and  grandfathers,  mothers  and  fathers, 
sisters  and  brothers  joined  to  make  up  the  magnificent  au- 
dience that  filled  every  seat  and  occupied  nearly  every  foot  of 
space  in  the  great  building. 

And  every  heart  and  mind  in  the  great  throng  throbbed 
in  sympathy  with  the  determination  of  the  men  of  Buncombe 
and  North  Carolina  to  restore  white  rule  and  honest  govern- 
ment in  this  State. 

There  was  a  prophecy  on  the  face  of  every  man  present 
of  a  majority  of  not  less  than  500  in  Buncombe  for  Democracy 
on  Tuesday  next,  and  a  promise  in  every  blazing  eye  that  no 
power  known  to  modern  Radicalism  should  thwart  them. 

The  speeches  were  appropriate  in  every  word.  No  threats, 
no  incendiarism,  no  bitterness,  but  in  every  one  was  manifest 
an  unshakable  determination  to  redeem  North  Carolina  this 
year. 

Chairman  Murphy  commenced,  President  Van  Winkle  of 
the  Biltmore  Club  and  C.  A.  Webb  continued,  and  Locke  Craig 
concluded,  amid  the  shouts  of  enthusiastic  hundreds,  the  exer- 
cises of  this  most  memorable  public  gathering. 

Craig  surpassed  himself.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say 
that  he  swayed  his  audience  with  the  hand  of  a  master.  Words 
that  burned  into  the  minds  of  his  hearers  poured  from  his 
lips  for  a  full  hour,  and  when  he  closed  with  a  grand  appeal 
for  every  one  to  rise  who  would  pledge  his  time  and  his  all  to 
Democratic  success  until  the  polls  closed  on  Tuesday,  every 
man,  woman  and  child  stood  up  and  shouted  the  genuineness 
of  a  determination  to  do  it. 

It  was  a  great  meeting,  and  a  harbinger  of  the  great  vic- 
tory that  awaits  Democracy  on  Tuesday. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  27 

THE  VICTORY 

NOTE:  Mr.  Craig  was  triumphantly  elected  to  the  Legislature,  re- 
versing a  Republican  majority  of  600  to  a  Democratic  majority  of  more 
than  700.  The  Asheville  Gazette,  in  the  following  editorial,  gives  some 
idea  of  what  this  victory  meant  to  the  State: 

The  election  in  this  State  resulted  as  it  should  have.  Re- 
garded as  a  contest  for  white  supremacy,  in  which  the  negro 
vote  was  solidly  aligned  on  the  Republican  side,  the  immense 
majority  that  the  Democrats  obtained  in  the  State — probably 
not  far  from  40,000 — proves  that  the  newly  elected  Legislature 
goes  into  office  with  the  endorsement  of  the  massed  multitude 
of  the  white  voters  of  the  State.  As  Chairman  Simmons  said 
to  The  Gazette's  representative  at  Raleigh  yesterday,  "It  is 
the  greatest  political  revolution  ever  known  to  have  taken 
place  in  the  State,  or  probably  in  any  State  of  the  Union." 
With  hardly  another  issue  to  obscure  the  contest  the  fight 
from  the  first  was  for  control  of  the  State  Government.  The 
Democratic  Legislative  Committees  were  selected  with  extra- 
ordinary care,  and  the  Democratic  majority  in  the  coming  ses- 
sion of  the  Legislature  should  possess  the  qualifications  neces- 
sary for  the  great  work  before  them.  They  are  to  be  the  cus- 
todians of  the  honor  of  the  State  and  of  the  great  political 
union  of  its  white  citizenship.  The  Democratic  Party  enters 
office  by  a  revolution  achieved  by  the  people.  A  solemn  trust 
reposes  in  the  hands  of  the  legislative  majority.  Their  course 
must  be  marked  by  devotion  to  the  credit  of  the  State.  They 
must  rise  to  a  dignity  becoming  the  representatives  of  a  con- 
stituency that  measures  the  progress  and  civilization  of  the 
State.  By  this  alone  can  they  preserve  the  union  of  this  vast 
and  splendid  constituency. 

THE  CELEBRATION 
Outdoor  Meeting  At  Raleigh 

NOTE:  After  the  victory  there  was  a  great  outpouring  of  the 
people  in  an  outdoor  meeting,  held  in  Raleigh,  the  night  of  November 
15,  1898,  in  which  the  prominent  speakers  of  the  campaign  took  part. 
The  account  from  Raleigh  to  The  Asheville  Gazette  is  interesting: 

Raleigh,  N.  C,  Nov.  15. — The  demonstration  tonight  was 


28  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

attended  by  thousands  and  was  orderly  and  enthusiastic.  The 
speeches  were  excellent.  Locke  Craig  captured  the  audience. 
His  speech  was  second  to  none.  There  were  repeated  calls  for 
him  after  he  finished. 

A  feature  of  the  big  meeting  was  that  it  resolved  itself 
into  a  great  outburst  of  popular  demand  that  Simmons  succeed 
Marion  Butler  in  the  Senate. 

Besides  Craig  the  speakers  were :  Simmons  (unexpected) , 
Kluttz,  Overman,  W.  B.  Shaw,  Avery,  B.  P.  Long,  Atwater, 
R.  A.  P.  Cooley,  W.  H.  Carroll  and  D.  J.  Currie. 

An  arch  spanned  Fayetteville  Street  in  front  of  the  City 
Hall.  It  was  illuminated  and  decorated,  and  under  it  a  big 
procession  passed.  The  speakers'  stand  was  on  the  mound  in 
the  centre  of  Nash  Square,  the  place  where  Bryan  spoke  in 
1896.    It  was  brilliant  with  electric  lights. 

There  was  especial  interest  to  hear  Craig  and  as  he  arose 
to  speak  he  was  greeted  with  an  enthusiastic  round  of  ap- 
plause. His  speech  was  a  finished  oration,  difficult  to  do 
justice  to  in  a  brief  newspaper  report.  Some  of  its  points 
were  as  follows: 

"This  is  a  climax  in  history.  The  irrepressible  conflict  is 
ended.  This  peaceful  revolution  has  restored  the  government 
of  the  Commonwealth  to  a  position  of  stable  equilibrium. 
The  triumph  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  was  inevitable.  We  rejoice 
that  the  victory  is  so  peaceful,  so  speedy  and  so  com- 
plete.   *    *    * 

"It  was  the  Teuton  that  died  before  the  legions  of  Caesar, 
but  not  a  man  surrendered.  It  was  the  Anglo-Saxon  that 
stood  like  a  wall  of  granite,  where  the  great  emperor  hurled 
against  him  those  projectiles  of  war — the  grand  army  and 
the  old  guard.  It  was  the  Anglo-Saxon  that  drove  back  the 
savage  and  reclaimed  the  New  World.  Before  his  pioneer  axe 
primeval  forests  fell,  the  wilderness  was  transformed  into 
wide  seed  fields  and  steepled  cities.  It  was  the  Anglo-Saxon 
at  Santiago  that  stretched  out  his  arm  of  power  to  crush  the 
tyrant  and  unshackle  the  slave ;  at  Manila,  that  sent  his  bomb- 
shells blazing  and  crashing  through  the  miasma  of  despotism 
in  the  Orient. 

"He  has  sent  forth  his  fleets  and  armies,  not  as  Rome  sent 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  29 

forth  her  legions  to  conquer,  rule  and  crush,  not  as  Napoleon 
sent  forth  his  armies,  to  march  by  the  light  of  blazing  cities, 
to  found  new  dynasties  and  consolidate  arbitrary  power,  but 
to  civilize,  to  Christianize  and  make  peace  on  earth. 

"In  South  Africa,  in  Australia,  in  the  Philippines,  in 
America,  from  whence  the  Goddess  of  Liberty  lifts  her  beacon 
hand  from  the  surges  of  the  Atlantic — over  mighty  rivers  and 
empire  States — to  where  the  waves  of  another  ocean  beat 
gently  on  golden  sands,  in  all  the  world  wherever  he  set  his 
foot  he  was  ruler — except  in  North  Carolina.  And  this  is  the 
State  of  Halifax  Court  House  and  Mecklenburg;  this  is  the 
State  consecrated  by  the  blood  of  Guilford  Court  House  and 
Kings  Mountain.  It  is  the  State  of  Nathaniel  Macon  and  Bad- 
ger and  Pender  and  Vance.  It  is  the  State  that  has  125,000 
sons  who  sleep  in  the  battle-scarred  bosom  of  old  Virginia. 
It  is  our  sacred  Fatherland.  Inspired  by  the  hallowed,  glorious 
memories  of  the  past,  commanded  by  the  solemn  duties  of  the 
present,  sustained  by  the  prayers  of  her  manhood,  empowered 
by  Him  who  dwells  in  omnipotence  beyond  the  morning  stars, 
who  wrote  the  Eternal  Law,  we  have  decreed  that  North  Car- 
olina too  is  the  Anglo-Saxon's  heritage  and  shall  be  ruled  by 
the  Anglo-Saxon  men.    *    *    * 

"The  race  question  is  the  most  difficult  problem  of  the  ages. 
The  sins  of  our  fathers  will  be  visited  upon  us  and  our  children. 
We  must  solve  this  problem  with  the  courage  and  with  the 
enlightened  conscience  of  the  Anglo-Saxon.  Justice  must  be 
done  to  all  men.    *    *    * 

Never  yet  share  of  truth  was  vainly  set 
In  the  world's  wide  fallow, 

Other  hands  may  sow  the  seed, 

Other  hands  from  hill  and  mead, 
Reap  the  harvest  yellow. 

"The  public  weal,  the  welfare  of  both  races,  self- 
preservation,  demand  that  the  negro  be  eliminated  as  a  dis- 
turbing element  in  politics.  They  stand  in  a  solid  phalanx, 
120,000  strong,  ignorant  and  politically  vicious,  with  smart, 
unscrupulous  leaders — they  are  a  constant  menace  to  the 
State,  a  constant  threat  of  anarchy  and  ruin,  'red  ruin  and  the 


30  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

breaking  up  of  laws.'  They  cannot  rule  this  State.  When 
the  armies  of  Louis  XIV  encircled  Holland  and  it  seemed  as 
if  resistance  were  almost  useless,  William,  Prince  of  Orange, 
called  the  State's  General  together  and  it  was  solemnly  de- 
creed that  sooner  than  surrender  to  the  foreign  conqueror, 
they  would  cut  loose  the  dykes  and  let  the  ocean  sweep  over 
the  land;  that  nothing  should  appear  above  the  waves  except 
the  towers  and  steeples  of  the  cities  of  Holland.  The  people 
of  North  Carolina,  too,  have  determined  that  the  African  shall 
not  rule  in  this  land,  and  this  determination  might  as  well  be 
written  into  law. 

"The  ballot  box  should  be  protected  from  corruption.  We 
should  have  an  election  law  to  prevent  as  far  as  possible  all 
corruption  and  bribery.  The  Democratic  Party  is  the  friend 
of  the  poor  man.  His  sovereign  right  to  vote  should  be  pro- 
tected and  jealously  guarded.     *     *     * 

"In  this  great  struggle  the  souls  of  men  were  aglow  with  a 
fire  that  could  not  be  quenched.  They  were  moved  by  that 
mysterious  moral  power  that  despises  gold  and  bayonets ;  that 
is  more  resistless  than  the  advance  of  imperial  armies.  The 
Democratic  host,  like  the  avalanche  crushing  all  before  it, 
swept  onward  to  victory. 

"In  this  hour  of  triumph  let  all  the  sons  and  daughters  of 
Carolina  rejoice.  For  the  honest  Republican  we  have  nothing 
but  good-will.  There  are  no  Populists,  they  are  all  Democrats, 
and  the  Democrats  all  belong  to  the  great  People's  Party.  We 
are  united  more  firmly  than  ever  in  the  brotherhood  of  the 
Democracy  of  Zeb.  Vance.  The  rivers  are  shouting  hallelujahs 
and  the  mountains  are  clapping  their  hands  for  joy.    *     *     * 

"There  are  a  few  men  in  North  Carolina  who  were  traitors 
to  every  trust  and  false  to  every  instinct  of  our  race.  They 
not  only  basely  betrayed  the  cause  of  the  poor,  but  tried  to 
crush  the  manhood  and  womanhood  of  North  Carolina  be- 
neath the  heel  of  an  alien  and  senile  race,  and  it  ought  to  be 
more  tolerable  for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  than  for  these  men 
in  North  Carolina. 

"Good  government  will  be  restored.  We  will  drive  the 
rascals  out  and  keep  the  rascals  out.  The  true  sons  of  the 
Old  North  State  will  make  and  administer  her  law.     Justice 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  31 

will  be  done  to  the  corporation  and  to  the  individual,  and  the 
laws  will  be  administered  in  equity  to  the  rich  and  in  mercy 
to  the  poor." 


32  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

CRAIG'S  CAMPAIGN  SPEECH  ON  THE 
SUFFRAGE  AMENDMENT 

NOTE:  The  Legislature  of  1899  was  strongly  Democratic,  as  the 
result  of  the  victory  won  by  the  Party  in  the  November  elections.  The 
outstanding  work  of  this  Legislature  being  the  passage  of  the  Bill  sub- 
mitting to  a  vote  of  the  people,  the  Suffrage  Amendment  to  the  State 
Constitution.  The  campaign  of  1898  was  won  on  this  pledge  to  the 
people,  that  they  should  be  rid  of  negro  domination.  Following  is  a 
stenographic  report  of  Mr.  Craig's  speech  in  the  campaign  for  the 
Amendment,  which  resulted  in  a  great  victory  for  Democracy,  sweep- 
ing Daniel  Russell  and  his  colleagues  out  of  power,  and  bringing  into 
the  Governor's  office  Charles  Brantley  Aycock,  the  great  Educational 
Governor  of  North  Carolina,  and  with  him  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  for 
the  advancement  of  the  State. 

(Stenographic  Report) 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

It  is  customary  for  political  speakers  to  say  that  the  cam- 
paign in  which  they  are  engaged  is  the  most  important  in  the 
State's  history.  We  can  truthfully  say  that  about  this  cam- 
paign, for  the  issue  affects  our  fundamental  law.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  change  our  Constitution  and  modify  the  provisions 
regulating  the  suffrage  of  the  people.  Prior  to  1894  the  State 
had  been  continuously  Democratic  for  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
and  the  people  were  reasonably  satisfied.  In  1894  many  of 
the  best  men  in  North  Carolina,  dissatisfied  on  account  of  the 
administration  of  the  national  affairs  of  our  party,  saw  proper 
to  sever  their  allegiance  from  the  party  of  their  fathers,  the 
party  of  their  young  manhood,  the  party  whose  principles 
they  loved,  and  whose  history  they  had  helped  to  write.  They 
shook  hands  with  their  ancient  political  enemies  of  the  Repub- 
lican Party.  It  was  not  long  before  they  found  that  they  had 
made  a  mistake.  They  came  to  see  that  when  they  shook 
hands  with  the  enemies  of  the  Democratic  Party  they  had 
joined  hands  with  the  enemies  of  North  Carolina.  The  al- 
liance which  they  formed  was  about  to  consummate  the  ruin 
of  the  State,  and  brought  shame  to  all  the  people.  Scarcely 
a  law  among  the  Statutes  of  1895  and  1897  except  those  which 
good  men  would  prefer  had  never  been  written.     When  the 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  33 

Legislature  of  1899  met,  Dan  Hugh  McLane,  of  the  County  of 
Harnett,  introduced  a  Bill  to  repeal  all  Acts  of  the  Legislature 
of  1895  and  1897,  but  the  Legislature  thought  those  laws 
should  be  treated  as  well  as  Sodom  was  treated.  You  re- 
member that  God  promised  to  spare  Sodom  if  there  were  five 
righteous  men  in  the  city,  and  we  thought  that  peradventure 
there  might  be  five  righteous  laws  in  the  whole  lot,  and  so~we 
spared  them  as  a  whole.  If  the  good  men  who  quit  the  Demo- 
cratic Party  in  1894  had  had  the  remotest  idea  that  the  new 
alliance  which  they  formed  would  have  resulted  as  it  did,  they 
would  have  been  as  far  from  quitting  the  Democratic  Party 
as  we  are  today.  And  so  in  1898  they  came  back  home,  many 
of  them — they  came  back  to  the  house  of  their  fathers  and  the 
house  of  their  young  manhood — they  quit  the  house  of  po- 
litical prostitutes,  and  we  welcomed  them  back.  We  killed  the 
fatted  calf  for  them,  but  did  not  treat  them  as  prodigals.  They 
were  somewhat  like  the  young  country  boy  who  got  married 
and  went  off  on  a  bridal  trip.  He  had  some  money,  and 
stopped  at  the  finest  hotel  in  the  city.  The  next  morning  they 
had  nice  brown  fish  cakes  for  breakfast.  He  never  had  seen 
any  such  things  before,  and  thought  they  were  biscuits.  He 
reached  out  his  hand  and  took  one  and  tried  to  cut  it  open. 
As  it  would  not  cut,  he  pulled  it  open  with  his  fingers,  and 
did  not  like  the  looks  of  the  inside  much.  He  pinched  a  piece 
out  of  it,  smelled  of  it,  turned  around  to  his  bride  and  said, 
"Sal,  this  seems  to  be  a  mighty  nice  hotel,  and  these  people 
have  treated  us  mighty  nice,  and  I  don't  like  to  say  anything 
agin  them,  but  I'll  be  durned  if  there  isn't  something  rotten 
in  this  bread."  Sal  she  smelled  of  it  and  turned  up  her  nose, 
and  said  she'd  be  dinged  if  the  whole  thing  wasn't  rotten,  and 
she  was  gwine  to  leave  any  such  house.  And  these  good  men 
left  the  house  where  dwelt  that  mongrel  crew,  and  helped  us 
to  win  the  great  victory  of  1898.  They  feel  better,  too.  A 
man  by  the  name  of  Barefoot,  in  the  County  of  Harnett,  told 
me  the  other  day  that  he  left  in  1894,  but  that  his  old  father 
who  raised  him  a  Democrat  told  him  that  he  and  all  his 
brothers  would  come  back,  because  he  left  from  honest  mo- 
tives. He  said  that  good  old  father  was  dead  and  gone,  but 
that  his  prophecy  had  been  fulfilled;  that  he  was  back,  that 


34  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

he  felt  better  because  he  was  among  white  folks,  and  that  his 
brothers  were  coming  back.  You,  my  friends,  who  have  left, 
are  not  happy  where  you  are.  You  never  will  be  satisfied 
again  until  you  get  within  the  Democratic  Party  where  you 
belong.  When  that  Legislature  of  1898  met,  it  found  many 
things  to  undo  and  many  things  to  do.  The  political  pie 
hunters  that  were  in  power  from  1894  to  1898  had  laid  their 
unholy  hands  on  every  institution  in  the  State  save  one.  They 
had  practically  destroyed  the  public  school  system.  In  the 
good  old  Republican  County  of  Madison  three  school  houses 
were  burned  to  ashes  by  an  indignant  people  because  they 
would  not  suffer  their  school  money  stolen  and  squandered. 
The  Democratic  Legislature  of  1898  had  to  re-write  the  laws 
relating  to  railroads  and  all  other  corporations  in  the  State, 
and  had  to  re-organize  the  public  institutions  of  the  State, 
and  had  to  rehabilitate  the  public  school  system. 

It  was  necessary  to  pass  a  separate  car  law,  which  was  a 
great  blessing  to  the  people  of  Eastern  North  Carolina,  especi- 
ally to  those  who  ride  in  second-class  coaches.  They  had  to 
relieve  white  people  of  many  of  the  counties  of  the  East  from 
the  shame  and  humiliation  of  negro  domination. 

But  there  is  one  act  which  we  passed  which  is  of  more 
importance  than  all  other  acts  put  together.  It  is  an  act  that 
is  today  engrossing  the  attention  of  the  people  of  North  Car- 
olina throughout  the  whole  State.  People  think  about  it  and 
talk  about  it  wherever  two  or  three  are  gathered  together. 
That  act,  if  it  become  a  law,  will  simply  make  the  written  law 
of  North  Carolina  conform  to  the  unwritten  law.  It  will  write 
into  law  what  has  already  been  determined  in  the  breast  of 
every  white  man  in  North  Carolina.  It  will  make  the  Consti- 
tution of  our  State  conform  to  the  moral  law,  if  you  please, 
yes,  to  the  Divine  Law  that  was  indicated  when  God  made  the 
races  of  men.  It  will  write  into  an  irrevocable  constitutional 
decree,  that  the  white  men  of  North  Carolina  shall  make  and 
administer  all  the  laws.  This  is  the  purpose  and  effect  of  the 
Constitutional  Amendment.  That  Amendment  is  not  yet 
written  into  law.  You  have  heard  of  the  doctrine  of  the  ini- 
tiative and  the  referendum.  They  say  it  is  a  Populist  doc- 
trine.   That  is  a  mistake.    It  was  conceived  4,000  years  before 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  35 

the  Populist  Party  was  ever  heard  of,  and  will  exist  4,000  years 
after  the  Populist  Party  is  dead  and  forgotten.  Four  thousand 
years  ago  the  people  of  Israel  assembled  on  Mt.  Ebal  and 
Gerizim.  There  they  were  assembled  in  that  awful  Presence, 
with  the  majestic  mountains  towering  around — men,  women 
and  children,  prophets,  priests  and  rabbis — and  that  law  which 
was  handed  down  to  them  by  their  law  givers,  which  has  been 
a  law  unto  the  people  of  Israel  and  their  fathers  for  4,000 
years,  and  which  has  been  a  law  unto  us  and  unto  our  fathers, 
and  will  be  a  law  unto  all  generations  of  men,  had  no  effect 
and  force  of  law  until  the  Levites  stood  up  before  the  people 
and  read  it  line  by  line  and  item  by  item,  and  until  it  was 
ratified  and  acknowledged  as  a  law  by  all  the  people  of  Israel. 
That  was  the  first  and  grandest  constitutional  convention  that 
history  records.  And  so  on  the  second  day  of  next  August 
another  great  constitutional  convention  will  assemble.  It  will 
assemble  around  the  ballot  box  in  North  Carolina,  from  the 
shadows  of  the  Great  Smoky  Mountains,  on  the  purple  hills  of 
the  Piedmont,  and  in  this  Tidewater  section.  In  that  conven- 
tion the  men  of  North  Carolina  will  speak,  and  of  that  conven- 
tion, you,  my  friend,  will  be  a  member,  and  however  poor  and 
however  humble  you  be,  your  voice  will  be  heard  and  heeded 
as  much  as  the  voice  of  the  greatest  and  most  enlightened  in 
all  this  land.  The  people  of  North  Carolina  will  speak,  and 
when  they  do  speak  in  their  sovereign  capacity  as  a  people, 
and  write  this  Amendment  into  their  fundamental  law,  it  will 
be  a  law  unto  us  and  unto  our  children.  And  George  White 
and  Marion  Butler  and  Abe  Middleton,  and  the  gates  of  Hell 
thrown  in,  shall  not  prevail  against  it.  This  Amendment  has 
been  much  misrepresented  by  the  revenue  doodlers  of  this 
State.  We  expected  this.  We  expected  them  to  deceive  the 
people  in  every  possible  way.  I  will  read  you  the  fourth  and 
fifth  sections  of  the  Amendment,  as  they  are  the  only  sections 
that  the  Republicans  complain  of.  You  have  doubtless  heard 
that  before  a  man  could  vote  under  this  amendment  he  must 
own  three  hundred  dollars  worth  of  property.  An  illiterate 
man  in  Morganton  told  me  the  other  day  that  he  had  been 
told  by  one  of  these  fellows  that  before  a  man  could  vote  he 
must  be  able  to  read  and  write  in  three  separate  languages. 


36  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

They  would  deceive  the  very  elect  if  they  could.    Do  not  take 
their  reading  of  the  Amendment.    They  will  read  it  to  suit 
themselves.    If  you  cannot  read  it  get  some  good  Democratic 
neighbor  to  read  it  for  you,  or  some  honest  Republican — if  you 
can  find  him,  or  honest  Populist,  as  to  that  matter.    These 
revenue  officers  would,  if  they  could,  do  like  the  boys  did  the 
old  minister,  who  announced  on  one  Sunday  what  chapter  of 
the  Scripture  he  would  read  from.    He  was  going  to  read  from 
that  chapter  that  tells  of  Noah  and  the  Deluge,  and  describes 
the  Ark.    These  two  boys  got  into  the  church,  found  his  place, 
and  pasted  two  of  the  leaves  of  the  Bible  together,  so  that 
they  looked  like  one  leaf.    The  old  minister  got  up,  opened  his 
Bible  at  the  place  he  had  picked  out,  and  read:     "In  those 
days  Noah  took  unto  himself  a  wife,  who  was  at  that  time," 
and  he  turned  over  the  leaf,  "three  hundred  cubits  long,  forty 
cubits  deep  and  twenty  cubits  wide,  made  of  gopher  wood, 
and  covered  with  pitch  on  the  inside  and  the  outside."     He 
turned  back  and  read  again  slowly  and  carefully.     He  threw 
down  his  Bible  and  said,  "Brethren  and  sisters,  I  have  been 
reading  the  Scriptures  and  searching  them  diligently  for  a 
long  time,  but  I  never  came  across  this  passage  before.     It 
only  convinces  my  mind  of  the  truth  of  that  other  wonderful 
passage  in  this  book  which  says  that  man  is  fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made,   and   especially  is  it  so  with  a  woman." 
Don't  let  them  paste  the  leaves  of  the  Amendment  together, 
but  make  them  read  it  all  and  read  it  right,  and  when  it  is 
all  read  and  all  understood  every  patriot  in  North  Carolina 
will  vote  for  it  and  support  it,  because  it  is  just  and  right,  and 
what  the  people  of  North  Carolina  want.     (Here  Section  4  of 
the  Amendment  is  read.)     You  see  at  once  that  that  dis- 
franchises the  negro.     He  cannot  read  the  Constitution;  he 
cannot  write  it.    Let  an  election  officer  read  to  him  some  such 
passage  in  the  Constitution  as  this:     "The  privileges  of  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  never  be  suspended."    What  does 
he  know  about  the  Constitution  or  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  ? 
What  does  he  care  about  it  ?    He  has  never  tried  to  know  any- 
thing about  it  and  never  will  know  anything  about  it.    This 
one  section  will  wipe  out  the  negro  vote  in  North  Carolina. 
Of  the  120,000  negro  voters  it  will  disfranchise  110,000  of 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  37 

them,  practically  all  of  them.  It  will  be  good-bye  to  all  negro 
office  holders,  and  all  those  who  base  their  hope  of  office  on 
the  negro  vote.  It  will  be  good-bye  to  Mr.  Butler  and  all  men 
who  pander  to  the  prejudice  and  ignorance  of  the  negro  for  the 
offices  they  hold.  No  wonder  they  are  against  it.  It  means 
their  political  annihilation.  It  sends  them  into  nothingness, 
out  of  which  they  ought  never  to  have  arisen.  But  unfortu- 
nately while  it  would  disfranchise  practically  all  of  the  negroes 
this  section  would  disfranchise  many  good  white  men,  for  un- 
fortunately there  are  many  good  white  men  in  this  State  who 
cannot  read  and  write.  They  have  never  had  the  opportunity 
to  learn.  During  their  boyhood  and  young  manhood  they  or 
their  fathers  stood  in  the  lines  of  battle  in  the  vanguard  of 
the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  and  so  we  did  not  stop  at  the 
fourth  section.  Many  of  the  best  men  in  North  Carolina  can- 
not read  and  write.  When  I  left  my  home  in  Eastern  North 
Carolina  and  went  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge  to  enter  upon  the 
work  of  life,  I  did  not  know  a  man  in  that  country.  The  first 
man  who  met  me  and  gave  me  the  right  hand  of  welcome  was 
Lafayette  Burnett.  He  is  not  educated.  He  is  a  brave  moun- 
taineer, the  descendant  of  a  noble  race  of  mountain  pioneers. 
He  and  his  three  brothers  shouldered  their  muskets  when  the 
drums  beat  the  morning  reveille  of  1861,  and  never  laid  down 
their  arms  until  the  roll  of  the  last  drum  at  Appomattox.  Two 
of  his  brothers  never  came  home.  He  stands  six  feet,  and 
weighs  200  pounds.  He  is  every  inch  a  man  and  every  ounce 
a  hero.  When  he  was  told  by  one  of  these  Republicans  that 
the  Democrats  had  formulated  a  measure  that  would  dis- 
franchise him  he  said  that  he  knew  it  was  a  lie,  because  he 
knew  that  the  Democrats  would  take  care  of  him,  but  that  if 
it  was  necessary  to  disfranchise  him  in  order  to  save  his 
brethren  of  the  east — the  men  and  the  sons  of  the  men  with 
whom  he  fought  from  '61  to  '65 — he  for  one,  would  be  willing 
to  be  disfranchised. 

When  this  measure  was  under  consideration  in  the  hall  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  there  sat  in  that  hall  an  old 
man  with  gray  hair  and  gray  beard.  He  too  was  a  soldier. 
His  face  had  been  burned  in  the  battle  smoke  that  blazed  from 
Mission  Ridge.    He  bore  upon  his  bosom,  scars  that  were  made 


38  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

by  the  bayonets  that  blazed  on  the  fields  of  war.  His  name 
was  Alfred  Holt.  He  thought  that  this  was  an  educational 
qualification  pure  and  simple.  With  tears  streaming  down 
his  face  he  declared  that  if  it  were  necessary  to  disfranchise 
him  to  redeem  North  Carolina,  that  he  too  was  willing  to  be 
disfranchised. 

My  unlettered  friend,  I  come  here  today  to  tell  you  that 
the  Democratic  Party  did  not  forget  you  and  Lafayette  Bur- 
nett and  Alfred  Holt.  They  remembered  you,  yes,  though  you 
be  a  Republican  who  have  opposed  and  villified  the  Democratic 
Party  and  Democratic  leaders ;  though  you  be  a  Populist  that 
have  said  hard  things  about  your  Democratic  neighbor,  we 
forgot  not  you.  If  you  belong  to  the  great  brotherhood  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race  we  have  made  a  provision  for  you.  We 
are  standing  by  you.  One  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand 
Democrats  have  recorded  their  vow  that  you  shall  never  be 
disfranchised.  The  arms  of  175,000  white  men  are  around 
and  about  you.  We  stand  in  a  solid  phalanx.  We  are  march- 
ing in  ranks  that  cannot  be  broken.  And  so,  after  we  wrote 
Section  4,  we  wrote  Section  5.  (Here  Section  5  is  read.) 
Could  you  vote  prior  to  1867?  If  you  could,  you  can  vote 
now.  Did  you  have  a  father  or  a  grandfather  or  a  great- 
grandfather who  could  vote  prior  to  that  time?  Your  rights 
are  not  interfered  with.  You  may  not  know  who  your  father 
was,  but  if  you  know  who  your  mother  was,  or  your  grand- 
mother, you  are  provided  for.  You  can  plant  yourself  on  Sec- 
tion 5  and  demand  your  right  as  a  sovereign  citizen.  No 
power  on  earth  can  take  it  from  you.  Your  great  heritage  is 
guaranteed  to  you  under  this  Constitution.  There  is1  only  one 
kind  of  a  white  man  in  North  Carolina  that  will  be  dis- 
franchised, and  that  is  the  white  man  who,  when  the  day 
comes  and  the  books  are  open,  goes  up  and  denies  his  race  and 
his  color;  surrenders  the  inheritance  from  his  fathers,  goes 
back  upon  his  daddy  and  his  grand-daddy,  and  his  mammy 
and  his  grand-mammy,  and  swears  that  he  is  a  negro  or  the 
son  of  a  negro,  or  the  grandson  of  a  negro,  and  that  white 
man  will  be  disfranchised. 

But  they  say  that  this  is  unconstitutional,  and  Section  5 
will  be  stricken  out,  leaving  Section  4  to  stand.    These  revenue 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  39 

officers  and  stillhouse  raiders  have  suddenly  bloomed  out  into 
great  constitutional  lawyers.  There  is  not  a  lawyer  of  re- 
spectability in  North  Carolina,  not  a  single  one,  who  declared 
this  unconstitutional,  unless  that  lawyer  is  holding  office  by 
means  of  the  negro  vote.  On  the  other  hand,  all  the  eminent 
lawyers  in  North  Carolina,  whether  they  be  Republicans  or 
Democrats  or  Populists,  have  declared  this  measure  constitu- 
tional. Major  Guthrie,  the  leading  Populist  lawyer  in  North 
Carolina — Judge  Purnell,  Tom  Argo,  Tom  Settle — able  Repub- 
lican lawyers  and  judges,  and  all  great  men  who  adorn  the 
bench  and  bar  of  this  State,  have  pronounced  this  measure 
constitutional.  But  these  men  must  hide  their  diminished 
heads  in  the  presence  of  revenue  officers !  What  do  they  care 
about  the  Constitution?  It  is  a  new  thing  under  the  sun  for 
Republicans  to  be  upholding  the  sanctity  of  the  Constitution. 
When  it  was  necessary  to  disfranchise  the  white  men  of  North 
Carolina  and  enfranchise  the  negroes  of  North  Carolina,  they 
denounced  the  Constitution  as  a  league  with  Death  and  a 
covenant  with  Hell.  They  trampled  down  the  Constitution. 
They  care  no  more  for  it  than  they  do  for  a  filthy  rag.  What 
do  these  revenue  officers  know  about  the  Constitution?  They 
would  not  know  the  Constitution  from  a  camel  with  two  humps 
on  his  back.  I  have  heard  a  story  about  two  fellows  migrat- 
ing to  the  West  in  a  covered  wagon.  While  they  were  driving 
across  the  great  prairies  they  came  to  the  track  of  the  Wes- 
tern Union  Pacific  Railway.  Jim  says  to  Tom,  "What's  this  ?" 
Tom  says,  "Why,  this;  I  know  what  this  is.  This  is  some- 
thing you  tie  your  wagon  to  of  nights  to  keep  the  cyclone  from 
blowing  it  away."  Tom  knew  everything.  Jim  said  he  'lowed 
that  that  was  what  it  was,  and  as  it  was  about  night  they 
decided  to  camp.  They  pulled  and  hauled  their  wagon  until 
finally  it  landed  right  down  between  the  rails.  Tom  says, 
"There,  by  gum,  I  told  you  so.  I  knowed  what  it  was  made 
for.  Don't  you  see  it  fits  to  a  gnat's  heel  ?"  And  so  they  tied 
their  wheels  to  the  track  and  lashed  it  with  ropes  and  got  in 
the  wagon  and  went  to  sleep.  In  the  night  they  heard  a 
mighty  rumble.  Tom  nudged  Jim  in  the  side  and  said,  "Jim, 
the  cyclone  is  coming,  but  we're  all  right."  The  rumbling 
came  nearer,  and  sounded  like  the  voice  of  thunder.    By  and 


40  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

by  a  bright  light  climbed  over  the  edge  of  the  horizon,  bright 
as  a  steady  flash  of  lightning.  Nearer  it  came.  It  was  the 
west-bound  vestibule  limited,  sweeping  over  the  prairie  at 
the  rate  of  sixty  miles  an  hour.  The  engine  screamed  in 
terror.  Tom  he  burst  out  of  one  side  of  the  wagon,  Jim  out 
of  the  other,  and  the  train  dashed  it  into  ten  thousand  pieces. 
Tom  stood  off  and  got  his  breath  and  said,  "Jim,  I  was  just 
somewhat  mistaken  about  that  thing.  I  bet  that  thing  that 
passed  along  here  was  that  durn  Constitutional  Amendment." 
And  these  fellows  know  just  as  much  about  the  Constitution 
as  Tom  did  about  the  Pacific  Railway  track. 

If  it  be  unconstitutional  at  all  it  is  so  because  it  is  in  con- 
flict with  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  which  declares  that  the  right  to  vote  shall  not 
de  denied  or  abridged  on  account  of  race,  color  or  previous  con- 
dition of  servitude.  This  Amendment  to  our  Constitution  says 
nothing  about  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude. 
If  a  negro  can  read  and  write  he  is  allowed  to  vote  just  as  a 
white  man  is.  Or  if  he  had  a  father  or  a  grandfather  who 
could  vote  he  is  allowed  that  privilege.  The  free  negroes  in 
this  State  could  vote  prior  to  1835,  and  all  negroes  who  can 
show  their  descent  from  these  free  negroes  are  allowed  this 
privilege  under  the  fifth  section,  and  can  demand  their  rights 
under  it.  If  there  is  a  negro  in  North  Carolina,  and  there  are 
doubtless  some,  though  he  was  a  slave,  if  he  had  a  negro 
father  or  a  negro  grandfather  who  lived  in  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  that  ancestor  of  his  could  vote  in  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  he  can  vote  in  North  Carolina  under  this  Sec- 
tion 5.  The  color  line  is  not  drawn.  No  man  is  disfranchised  on 
account  of  his  race,  color  or  previous  condition  of  servitude, 
but  under  Section  5  he  is  given  the  right  to  vote  as  an  in- 
heritance, and  not  on  account  of  his  race.  It  puts  the  negro 
in  North  Carolina  on  an  equality  before  the  law  with  all 
foreign  born  races,  on  an  equality  with  the  Irishman,  the 
Englishman  and  the  German,  and  surely  he  is  entitled  to  and 
can  claim  no  more  rights  than  these  descendants  of  those 
great  races.  Take  a  woman,  an  unmarried  woman  over 
twenty-one  years  of  age.  She  may  have  property,  she  may 
pay  her  taxes  on  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  worth  of 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  41 

property.  She  is  subject  to  all  the  burdens  of  government 
that  a  man  is.  She  is  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  she 
has  all  the  priviliges  of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  But  the 
law  of  North  Carolina  takes  from  her  the  right  to  vote,  dis- 
franchises her  on  account  of  her  sex.  That  is  not  unconsti- 
tutional, and  why;  because  it  does  not  disfranchise  her  on  ac- 
count of  race,  color  or  previous  condition  of  servitude.  Surely 
she  is  entitled  to  as  many  privileges  in  the  eye  of  the  law  as 
the  illiterate,  foreign,  negro  race.  Take  a  boy  under  twenty- 
one.  He  may  have  property.  He  has  to  pay  his  taxes,  yet 
he  is  not  allowed  to  vote  because  of  his  age.  The  State  is 
absolute  sovereign  as  to  qualifications  of  a  voter,  with  these 
three  exceptions,  race,  color  and  previous  condition  of  servi- 
tude. And  this  Amendment  disfranchises  nobody  on  account 
of  race,  color  or  previous  condition  of  servitude.  The  illiterate 
negro  is  disfranchised  because  he  has  not  inherited  the  same 
privileges  as  the  white  man,  and  he  ought  not  to  inherit  that 
privilege.  In  the  State  of  Massachusetts  the  law  allows  no 
man  to  vote  unless  he  can  read  and  write,  or  unless  he  could 
vote  prior  to  the  first  day  of  May,  1857.  That  is  ten  years 
before  the  date  fixed  in  our  Amendment,  and  no  one  has  ever 
questioned  the  constitutionality  of  that  law.  If  there  were 
100,000  negroes  in  Massachusetts,  would  it  make  that  law  any 
less  constitutional?  It  would  be  questioned,  if  Russell  and 
Butler  lived  in  Massachusetts,  and  their  only  hope  of  office 
was  to  get  that  100,000  negro  votes.  The  Constitution  of 
Mississippi  has  disfranchised  the  negro  in  that  State.  The 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  declares  that  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention  of  Mississippi  swept  the  field  of  expe- 
dients for  the  purpose  of  disfranchising  the  negro,  yet  the 
Court  upheld  that  Constitution  because,  as  they  said,  the 
negro  was  not  disfranchised  on  account  of  his  race,  color,  or 
previous  condition  of  servitude.  In  Louisiana  they  have  prac- 
tically the  same  amendment  as  we  have.  That  amendment 
has  been  in  force  for  two  years.  There  are  members  in  Con- 
gress now  elected  under  that  amendment.  A  Governor  has 
been  elected  under  it.  Why  has  not  that  been  declared  un- 
constitutional?   *    *    * 

But  this  is  not  the  greatest  reason,  there  is  no  danger  that 


42  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

a  white  man  will  be  disfranchised  under  this  Amendment. 
The  white  people  of  North  Carolina  now  have  the  right  to  vote 
under  Section  5  of  the  Constitution.  Section  5  is  repealed  by 
this  Amendment,  but  the  very  same  act  that  repeals  Section  5 
inserts  this  Amendment  in  its  place,  and  this  Amendment 
guarantees  to  the  white  man  the  right  to  vote  with  as  much 
sanctity  as  the  old  section  did.  The  old  Section  5  is  repealed 
on  the  condition — on  the  solemn  agreement  by  the  people  of  a 
Sovereign  State,  that  the  new  Section  5  takes  its  place.  You 
have  entered  into  a  solemn  contract  and  covenant  with  your 
State  that  Section  5  be  repealed  on  this  condition.  To  take 
the  right  from  you  would  be  an  iniquity,  a  diabolical  wrong, 
and  yet  they  tell  you  that  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  the  greatest  judicial  tribunal  in  the  world,  a  tribunal 
sitting  there  to  guarantee  justice  and  equality  to  all  men,  to 
uphold  the  supreme  law  of  right,  will  perpetrate  this 
diabolical  fraud  and  wrong;  that  this  Court  that  stamped  the 
Civil  Rights  Bill,  by  which  the  Republicans  attempted  to  put 
the  negro  on  an  equality  with  the  white  man ;  this  Court  that 
has  declared  Beckham  the  Governor  of  Kentucky,  because  the 
people  of  Kentucky  had  decided  that  he  was  Governor;  this 
Court  that  upheld  the  Constitution  of  Mississippi,  that  upheld 
the  School  Law  of  Georgia,  which  divided  the  negroes  and  the 
whites ;  which  has  upheld  the  Election  Law  of  South  Carolina, 
which  is  more  stringent  against  the  negro  than  ours ;  that  this 
great  Court  will  violate  its  rule  of  law  and  justice,  and  take 
from  you  a  right  guaranteed  to  you  by  all  solemnities  of  your 
Constitution.  Such  an  Act  would  be  the  end  of  Republican 
Government.  Like  Samson,  in  blind  rage,  to  do  this  they 
would  have  to  take  hold  of  the  pillars  of  the  State  and  pull 
down  the  whole  fabric  of  the  Federal  system.  They  would 
have  to  destroy  the  very  cornerstone  of  the  Republic.  I  de- 
nounce it  as  a  slander  and  the  vilest  imputation  upon  this 
great  tribunal.  No  one  wants  to  disfranchise  you,  my  il- 
literate friend,  and  no  one  can  disfranchise  you.  If  the  il- 
literate white  man  in  North  Carolina  should  be  thus  unjustly 
disfranchised  it  would  create  riot  and  civil  war,  and  every 
white  man  in  North  Carolina,  except  these  revenue  officers 
and  negro  politicians,  would  stand  at  your  side  to  defend  your 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  43 

rights  with  the  last  drop  of  their  blood.  You  can  disfranchise 
negroes,  but  you  cannot  disfranchise  white  people.     *     *     * 

They  also  object  to  the  clause  in  the  Amendment  providing 
for  the  payment  of  the  poll  tax.  There  is  no  new  poll  tax 
levied.  The  Constitution  guarantees  that  the  poll  tax  shall 
not  exceed  two  dollars,  that  no  man  more  than  fifty  years  of 
age  is  liable  to  poll  tax,  and  that  if  he  be  physically  disabled 
or  too  poor  to  pay  it,  he  is  not  liable  for  it.  This  Amendment 
provides  that  the  able-bodied  man  under  fifty  years  of  age, 
able  to  pay  his  poll  tax,  shall  pay  that  tax  on  or  before  the 
first  day  of  March  of  the  year  in  which  he  proposes  to  vote 
for  the  preceding  year — six  months  after  its  date.  And  here  is 
the  able-bodied  man  under  fifty,  able  to  pay  his  poll  tax.  He 
enjoys  all  the  blessings  of  our  Government.  He  lives  in  a 
State  that  builds  your  school  houses,  your  court  houses,  your 
public  roads,  asylums  for  the  unfortunate.  She  stations  the 
law  as  a  sentinel  around  your  door  in  the  night  time.  She 
protects  your  property  with  the  strong  arm  of  the  law,  and 
you  enjoy  it  all.  You  live  in  a  great  Government  that  would 
expend  untold  millions  of  its  treasures  and  send  its  fleets  and 
armies  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  to  assert  your 
manhood  and  maintain  your  rights,  and  you  enjoy  it  all.  You 
accept  all  of  these  privileges,  and  it  is  all  paid  for  out  of 
money  that  is  taken  out  of  the  pockets  of  your  neighbors  by 
taxation.  And  yet  these  Republicans  say  that  you  able-bodied 
man,  under  fifty  years,  able  to  pay  your  poll  tax,  are  not  will- 
ing to  do  it.  It  is  a  slander  on  the  poor  manhood  of  North 
Carolina.  It  is  an  appeal  to  the  dishonesty  of  the  poor  people, 
a  contemptible  demogogic  appeal  that  will  be  repudiated. 
*  *  *  The  poor  people  of  this  country  are  not  the  ones  who 
escape  the  payment  of  taxes.  It  is  the  rich,  who  can  hide 
their  wealth  on  the  tax-levying  day.  The  poor  man  cannot 
hide  his  head.  He  has  to  pay  his  taxes,  and  he  is  willing  to 
do  it.  But  if  he  is  not  willing,  and  wants  to  enjoy  all  the 
benefits  of  this  Government  that  are  paid  for  by  the  neighbor 
just  as  poor  as  he  is — if  there  be  such  a  man  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  I  do  not  believe  there  is — that  man  ought  to  be  dis- 
franchised.   *    *    * 

They  also  object  to  the  clause  in  the  Amendment  providing 


44  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

that  after  1908  all  persons  who  have  not  registered  at  that 
time  must  know  how  to  read  and  write.  If  you  get  your  name 
on  the  registration  book  before  1908  you  will  not  be  troubled 
to  register  any  more.  You  have  the  right  to  vote  guaranteed 
to  you  forever.  Your  name  is  enrolled  in  the  capital,  and  that 
roll  will  stay  there  as  a  memorial  of  the  great  inheritance  that 
you  have  received  from  your  fathers.  I  may  be  able  to  read 
and  write  the  Constitution,  but  I  am  not  going  to  vote  that 
way.  I  am  going  to  vote  because  my  ancestors  could  vote. 
I  will  have  my  name  enrolled  in  the  capital  along  with  those 
of  my  race  who  are  less  fortunate  than  I  am,  and  we  can 
always  vote,  and  never  have  the  trouble  to  register  any 
more.    *    *    * 

But  boys  under  thirteen  years  of  age  will  not  become 
twenty-one  until  after  1908,  and  so  they  cannot  register  under 
the  Grandfather  Clause.  They  will  have  to  read  and  write. 
These  Republicans  tell  us  that  there  are  white  boys  in  North 
Carolina  who  will  be  disfranchised.  *  *  *  I  am  not  afraid 
for  the  white  boys  of  North  Carolina  to  run  an  intellectual 
race  with  the  kinky  heads  of  North  Carolina,  and  I  would  be 
unwilling  that  this  clause  be  stricken  out  of  our  Amendment. 
*  *  *  I  would  be  unwilling  that  a  great  inducement  should 
be  offered  to  the  negroes  of  North  Carolina  to  become  edu- 
cated, while  a  great  inducement  should  be  offered  to  the  white 
boys  of  North  Carolina  to  remain  forever  ignorant.  When 
the  white  boys  of  North  Carolina  know  that  before  they  can 
vote  they  must  know  how  to  read  and  write  you  cannot  pre- 
vent them  from  learning.  *  *  *  They  learn  it  while  they 
rest  at  noon  from  the  labors  on  the  farm.  They  learn  it  by 
pine  knots  at  night.  And  here  in  North  Carolina,  where  we 
have  a  splendid  public  school  system,  and  C.  B.  Aycock,  the 
next  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  promises  to  use  all  the 
power  of  the  administration  to  guarantee  every  boy  an  edu- 
cation, it  is  an  insult  to  boys  to  say  that  they  will  not  take 
advantage  of  that  opportunity.     *     *     * 

In  1908  there  is  not  a  boy  who  is  now  under  thirteen  years 
of  age  who  will  not  be  educated.  We  will  have  an  educated 
citizenship,  a  citizenship  that  understands  the  Constitution 
and  Government  of  their  country.    We  will  have  a  purer  Gov- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  45 

eminent,  and  wiser  and  juster  laws.  These  boys  are  not 
cowards,  either.  They  are  not  afraid  of  this.  They  have 
read  in  their  school  histories  that  this  great  privilege  of  the 
franchise  was  not  given  to  our  fathers.  It  was  won  by  the 
shedding  of  the  most  costly  blood  that  ever  crimsoned  this 
world,  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  most  heroic  lives  that  ever  saved 
humanity.  They  have  read  that  their  ancestors  800  years  ago 
stood  at  Runnymede  with  sword  in  hand,  and  defied  the  king 
and  the  armies  of  the  king,  and  forced  him  to  sign  the  great 
Charter  of  English  liberties,  and  they  have  stood  from  that 
day  to  this  ready  to  defend  their  rights.  And  they  tell  me 
that  these  boys  will  not  learn  how  to  read  and  write  to  pre- 
serve for  themselves  the  legacy  that  has  been  handed  down  to 
them  from  their  fathers.  This  young  Anglo-Saxon  race  in 
whose  veins  flows  the  blood  of  the  men  of  the  Revolution! 
There  is  no  man  in  all  this  land  that  will  say  that  his  boy  can- 
not and  will  not  learn.  *  *  *  If  there  be  such  a  man  he  is 
unworthy  of  that  boy,  and  that  boy  will  stand  up  here  today 
and  repudiate  that  statement.  The  Democratic  Party  wishes 
to  educate  and  elevate  the  manhood  of  the  State.  The  Repub- 
licans would  keep  them  forever  in  ignorance.     *     *     * 

Perhaps  it  would  not  be  improper  to  ask  when  the  Repub- 
licans got  to  be  the  friends  of  the  poor  white  men  of  this 
country  ?  There  was  a  time  when  the  poor  white  people  needed 
sympahty  and  support.  Sherman's  army  had  marched  to  the 
sea  through  North  Carolina,  and  left  behind  it  nothing  but 
smoking  ruins  and  wasted  country.  Around  every  fireside  in 
North  Carolina  there  was  a  vacant  chair.  The  young  boy 
that  filled  it  was  in  an  unknown  grave  in  Northern  Virginia. 
North  Carolina  had  felt  upon  her  bosom  the  tread  of  em- 
battled hosts.  She  had  felt  to  the  very  quick  the  scourge  of 
avenging  armies.  Tears  were  pent  up  in  the  silent  desolation 
of  mothers  and  widows  and  sisters.  All  our  people  were  poor, 
and  yet  in  that  day  of  grief  and  distress  and  poverty,  these 
men  who  are  today  pitying  the  poor,  sat  in  the  high  places  of 
power  and  luxury.  They  rode  in  the  second  Chariot.  They 
dwelt  in  the  house  of  feasting  while  we  were  in  the  house  of 
mourning.  While  we  wept  they  laughed  and  danced  and  re- 
joiced.   Now  when  the  poor  white  people  of  North  Carolina 


46  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

are  somewhat  recovered  from  the  scourge  that  they  brought 
upon  this  State  they  are  pitying  our  poverty  and  illiteracy. 
It  is  not  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  that  the 
hypocrite  has  used  the  cause  of  the  poor  to  accomplish  his 
vile  designs.  You  remember  that  when  the  Master  was  worn 
and  weary  by  traveling  over  the  burning,  scorching  desert, 
He  went  into  the  house  of  the  rich  Pharisee  to  rest.  While 
He  and  His  disciples  were  there,  there  came  in,  unannounced, 
unbidden,  all  disheveled,  all  unworthy  and  all  unwelcome  too, 
the  poor,  despised  outcast  woman.  She  saw  the  stony  faces 
of  the  Pharisees,  but  when  she  caught  a  glimpse  of  that  in- 
effable face  of  love  she  burst  into  tears  and  fell  down  at  His 
feet  and  washed  them  in  those  tears  and  wiped  them  with  her 
disheveled  hair.  She  broke  open  the  alabaster  box  of  precious 
ointment.  It  was  all  she  had.  She  annointed  His  feet  with 
the  costly  oil.  There  was  one  in  all  that  company  that  saw 
unmoved.  He  raised  his  voice  against  it  and  rebuked  her. 
He  said  that  this  ointment  ought  to  have  been  sold  for  much, 
and  the  money  given  to  the  poor.  That  was  Judas,  who 
wanted  to  steal  the  money.    *    *    * 

My  illiterate  friend,  how  came  you  to  be  illiterate?  You 
are  illiterate  because  you  never  had  the  opportunity  of  an 
education.  At  the  time  when  you  would  have  been  at  school 
you  had  on  a  suit  of  gray;  and  a  confederate  musket  on  your 
shoulder.  You  were  in  the  storm  of  war.  But  while  you  and 
your  brothers  and  your  fathers  were  in  a  distant  land,  you 
had  a  great  friend  down  here  in  North  Carolina.  He  was  the 
greatest  friend  that  the  poor  man  ever  had.  He  glorified  the 
poor  manhood  of  this  State,  for  he  himself  came  from  the 
loins  of  the  poor  manhood.  He  glorified  the  Democratic  Party 
too,  for  he  himself  lived  and  died  a  Democrat.  While  you 
were  fighting  the  battles  of  your  country,  old  Zeb.  Vance,  by 
honesty  and  frugality,  had  accumulated  a  school  fund  of 
$450,000,  and  had  it  laid  away  in  the  public  treasury.  It  was 
yours.  It  was  there  to  educate  you  and  your  children  when 
you  came  back  from  the  war.  It  was  your  priceless  heritage. 
But  as  soon  as  the  war  was  over,  by  means  of  the  negro  vote, 
the  Republicans  got  into  power.  They  laid  their  unholy  hands 
upon  that  sacred  fund,  and  stole  and  squandered  the  last  cent 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  47 

of  it  and  ran  away.  School  houses  were  closed  because  the 
money  was  stolen.  You  had  no  opportunity  to  get  an  educa- 
tion, because  they  stole  that  money.  Now  they  are  pitying 
you  because  you  are  illiterate.  They  are  like  the  fellow  that 
was  indicted  for  murdering  his  father  and  mother,  and  stood 
up  in  open  court  and  confessed  his  guilt  and  when  the  judge 
asked  him  what  he  had  to  say  why  sentence  of  death  should 
not  be  pronounced  upon  him  according  to  law,  he  said,  "I  hope 
Your  Honor  will  have  mercy  on  the  poor  orphan  that  stands 
before  you."  You  have  been  robbed,  you  are  the  disinherited 
heirs  of  a  great  estate,  and  these  men  who  are  today  pitying 
you  for  your  illiteracy  are  the  ones  who  are  responsible  for 
that  wrong,  that  great  misfortune.  And  now  these  men  are 
trying  to  invoke  the  name  of  Zeb.  Vance,  and  say  they  are 
following  in  the  footsteps  of  Vance,  these  men — they  de- 
nounced him  and  reviled  him  and  slandered  him  while  he 
lived!  They  would  have  stoned  him  to  death.  It  is  not  the 
first  time,  either,  in  the  history  of  the  world  that  a  generation 
of  vipers  has  been  ready  to  build  the  tombs  of  prophets,  and 
garnish  the  sepulchres  of  the  righteous.  They  shall  not  invoke 
the  name  of  Zeb.  Vance!  They  shall  build  no  tomb  to  his 
memory!  You  miserable  demagogue,  he  denounced  you,  too, 
while  he  lived.  He  stigmatized  you  with  infamy.  I  wish  that 
the  great  old  Senator  were  living  today,  that  he  could  speak 
one  word  to  the  people  of  North  Carolina;  that  from  those 
lips  of  love,  and  melting  pity  and  greatness,  and  fiery  wrath, 
there  could  come  one  blast.  He  would  make  it  more  tolerable 
for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  in  the  Day  of  Judgment,  than  for 
you  in  North  Carolina.  But  the  Stately  Ship  is  gone  to  the 
"haven  under  the  hill" — 

"Oh,  for  the  touch  of  a  vanish'd  hand, 
And  the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still!" 

I  submit  that  the  negro  has  no  right  to  vote.  He  has  the 
right  to  vote  neither  by  constitutional  enactment  nor  by  in- 
heritance, nor  has  he  deserved  that  right  by  a  proper  use  of 
it.  In  1867,  in  flagrant  outrage  of  the  Constitution,  by  a  mili- 
tary edict,  he  was  given  that  right,  and  20,000  white  men  in 
North  Carolina  were  disfranchised  by  the  Republican  Party 


48  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

at  the  point  of  a  bloody  bayonet.  In  defiance  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, the  negroes  were  enfranchised  and  the  white  people  were 
disfranchised,  and  by  that  despotic  military  law  the  negro 
ratified  the  Cander  Constitution,  which  guarantees  to  him  the 
right  to  vote.  He  hardly  knew  what  he  was  doing  when  he 
voted  himself  the  right  to  vote.  They  say  that  down  here  in 
Eastern  North  Carolina,  at  the  first  election  held  under  the 
Reconstruction  Acts,  when  the  negroes  voted  for  the  first 
time,  they  swarmed  around  that  ballot  box  in  great  numbers. 
They  say  that  down  here  at  one  of  these  voting  precincts  on 
that  day,  there  was  a  man  who  had  rat  poison  to  sell.  He 
thought  it  was  a  good  time  to  advertise  and  sell  his  poison, 
and  so  he  was  standing  up  in  the  crowd  talking  up  his  drug 
and  advertising  it,  by  distributing  among  the  crowd  little  cir- 
culars with  the  picture  of  a  rat,  that  had  taken  some  of 
this  poison.  The  rat  was  dead  and  laid  out  in  fine  shape,  and 
the  negroes  got  hold  of  this  rat  circular  and  got  it  confused 
with  their  tickets  and  began  to  vote  it,  and  they  were  shoving 
them  into  the  ballot  box  just  by  the  thousands.  Along  towards 
night  one  old  coon  went  up  to  the  leader  and  said,  "Look  here, 
there  must  be  something  wrong  about  this  thing;  I  don't 
believe  this  is  no  'publican  ticket.  This  thing  got  nothing  but 
a  dead  rat  on  it."  The  negro  said,  "You  fool,  that  is  a  'pub- 
lican ticket,  the  very  thing  you  want.  Vote  that  ticket  and  it 
means  that  you  vote  for  to  ratify  the  Constitution."  It  was 
with  such  voters  as  these  that  the  Canby  Constitution  was 
ratified,  and  the  votes  were  taken  to  South  Carolina  and 
counted  in  Charleston  by  Gen.  Canby,  the  Military  Governor 
in  North  Carolina. 

The  negroes  certainly  did  not  inherit  the  right  to  vote, 
because  they,  nor  their  ancestors,  have  ever  won  or  deserved 
that  right.  In  all  the  ages  they  have  never  shed  one  single 
drop  of  blood  for  the  liberties  and  the  privileges  which  we 
enjoy.  In  all  our  history  they  have  never  laid  one  stone  upon 
another  in  this  great  fabric  of  our  Government. 

Have  they  used  the  privilege  so  as  to  entitle  them  to  the 
right  to  it  ?  The  man  that  was  given  ten  talents  so  used  them 
that  he  acquired  the  ownership.  How  has  the  negro  used  this 
talent?    They  were  given  the  right  to  vote  in  1867,  and  in  two 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  49 

years  they  bankrupted  North  Carolina.  They  plunged  the 
State  into  a  debt  of  forty  millions  of  dollars,  and  the  men  that 
they  had  elected  wasted  and  squandered  the  money,  and 
applied  not  a  cent  of  it  to  the  good  of  the  State.  They  built 
no  railroads,  they  made  no  internal  improvements.  The  poor 
were  not  cared  for,  the  innocent  and  blind  lay  in  dungeons  or 
wandered  in  the  fields.  There  was  no  government  in  North 
Carolina,  either.  The  course  of  the  law  was  ended.  The 
sword,  and  not  the  sword  of  the  military  captain,  either,  but 
the  sword  of  the  bandit  and  the  cut-throat,  stood  chief  magis- 
strate  in  this  State.  The  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  sus- 
pended. Bands  of  armed  men  went  up  and  down  the  State. 
The  authorities  were  powerless.  It  was  worse  than  civil  war. 
They  made  this  land  a  desolation  and  called  it  peace.  There 
was  a  veritable  reign  of  terror.  The  sun  of  law  and  justice 
was  in  total  eclipse  for  two  years.  Political  night  had  come, 
and  all  manner  of  beasts  of  prey  came  forth  to  pillage  and  to 
devour.  These  political  hyenas  and  jackals  ravaged  this  old 
State  of  our  fathers.  These  were  the  dark  days  in  North 
Carolina's  history. 

To  the  east  of  the  city  in  which  I  live  there  is  a  little 
mountain  called  Beaucatcher.  It  is  called  that  from  the  fact 
that  from  time  immemorial  the  boys  and  girls  have  gone  there 
to  loiter  on  its  beautiful  summit,  and  tell  to  each  other  that 
old  story  that  never  grows  old.  I  have  stood  on  that  mountain 
in  the  early  morning,  and  looked  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge 
Mountains  over  the  land  where  lie  the  ashes  of  my  fathers. 
I  have  seen  the  day  break  beyond  the  eternal  hills;  the 
mountains  give  forth  their  forms  from  out  the  bosom  of  the 
darkness;  from  the  dewy  branch  little  snowbirds  here  and 
and  there  with  deep  warble  salute  the  coming  sun — "Stars 
fade  out  and  galaxies — street  lamps  of  the  City  of  God." 
Clouds  of  the  night  storm  are  lifted  up  on  sheens  of  fire  and 
rolled  back  in  pillars  of  flame.  When  far  overhead  they  are 
caught  up  by  the  morning  breeze  and  swept  away,  perfect  day 
is  established,  and  there  is  peace.  So  did  the  morning  come 
to  North  Carolina  in  1870,  when  a  Democratic  Legislature  was 
elected ;  breaking  into  the  splendors  of  the  day  in  1876,  when 
the  cohorts  of  the  unterrified  came  forth  to  redeem  North 


50  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

Carolina,  led  by  that  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Democracy,  old  Zeb. 
Vance.  Peace  came  to  North  Carolina,  sweet  as  "day  spring 
to  the  shipwrecked  in  Nova  Zembla."  It  came  to  the  ex- 
asperated hearts  of  our  people  like  strains  of  music.  The  law 
was  restored,  good  government  was  administered.  Great 
Governors  were  in  the  Executive  Mansion,  and  great  and  pure 
men  administered  justice  with  an  even  hand  alike  to  all,  the 
great  and  the  small,  the  white  and  the  black.  In  every  dis- 
trict a  school  house  was  opened,  in  every  town  a  school  house 
was  built  for  the  white  boys  and  girls.  Though  the  Democrats 
of  North  Carolina  owned  all  the  property  and  paid  all  the 
taxes,  they  built  a  school  house  for  the  little  negroes,  too. 
Asylums  were  built  for  the  insane,  the  deaf,  the  dumb  and 
the  blind,  and  every  time  we  built  an  asylum  for  the  unfor- 
tunate of  our  race,  when  necessity  demanded  we  built  one  for 
the  unfortunate  of  the  colored  race.  It  was  generosity  un- 
equalled in  history.  It  was  good  government  unexampled  in 
the  jurisprudence  of  the  world.  Twenty-five  years  passed 
away.  A  generation  passed  away.  We  forgot  the  evil  days 
of  1867  and  1869.  We  not  only  forgot  but  we  forgave.  The 
Republicans  confessed  their  sins  and  said  they  would  not  do 
so  any  more.    Yes,  we  forgot.    We  must  not  forget  any  more. 

"Lord,  God  of  Hosts,  te  with  us  yet, 
Lest  we  forget,  lest  we  forget." 

But  we  did  forget.  We  were  like  the  old  preacher  said  to 
his  congregation.  He  read  in  the  Scriptures,  "Abraham  for- 
got Isaac,  and  Isaac  forgot  Jacob,  and  Jacob  forgot  his  twelve 
sons."  He  said,  "Brethren  and  sisters,  they  were  a  forgetful 
people  in  those  days."  And  we  were  a  forgetful  people.  For 
twenty-five  years  we  had  fought  at  every  door  and  room  and 
hall  in  this  house  of  rest  to  keep  this  gang  out.  At  the  end 
of  twenty-five  years  they  broke  in  again,  and  here  they  were — 
the  same  old  crowd,  the  same  old  days  of  1867  and  1869.  A 
little  fellow  was  reading  his  Sunday  School  lesson  to  his 
teacher.  He  came  across  the  names  Shadrach,  Meshach  and 
Abed-nego.  He  could  not  pronounce  them.  The  teacher  asked 
him  why  he  didn't  know  his  lesson.    He  didn't  know  why  he 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  51 

didn't  know  it,  but  he  could  not  pronounce  those  names.  The 
teacher  told  them  to  him,  and  he  went  on.  Pretty  soon  he 
came  to  the  names  again,  and  hung  fire  the  second  time.  The 
teacher  told  him  to  go  on.  He  could  not  go.  The  teacher 
said,  "Now  that  is  Shadrach,  Meshach  and  Abed-nego,  and  if 
you  don't  know  those  names  the  next  time  you  come  to  them  I 
will  thrash  you  like  fury."  The  little  fellow  read  on.  After 
awhile  he  came  to  them  again.  The  teacher  told  him  to  go 
on,  and  asked  him  what  was  the  matter.  The  little  fellow 
broke  out  crying  and  said,  "Here  is  them  three  scoundrels 
again."  And  so  here  they  were  again,  worse  than  they  were 
before.  They  turned  this  State  over  to  the  negroes,  and  the 
allies  of  the  negroes.  They  turned  the  fairest  cities  of  the 
East  over  to  their  control.  The  East  swarmed  with  negro 
office  holders.  In  the  County  of  New  Hanover  there  were 
forty  negro  magistrates,  and  in  the  city  of  Wilmington  there 
were  seventeen  negro  policemen  and  deputy  sheriffs.  Negro 
postmasters  were  in  most  of  the  leading  cities  of  the  East. 
The  white  people  could  not  and  would  not  suffer  it.  Bloodshed 
and  riot  prevailed  wherever  negro  domination  prevailed.  The 
Wilmington  riot  came.  It  will  come  every  time  in  North 
Carolina  when  the  negro  attempts  to  rule  the  white  man,  and 
if  he  has  the  majority  and  is  entitled  to  vote  he  is  entitled  to 
rule.  These  men  prostituted  every  institution  in  North  Car- 
olina save  one  to  the  greed  of  the  office  seeker.  Our  asylums 
are  the  most  sacred  institutions  in  the  State.  Take  the  hos- 
pital for  the  insane  at  Morganton.  I  stood  the  other  day  be- 
neath the  dome  of  that  magnificent  building  of  brick  and  stone 
and  marble,  and  as  I  stood  there  and  saw  floating  from  its 
dome  the  ensign  of  our  Commonwealth,  I  was  proud  that  I  was 
a  citizen  of  this  great  State,  and  belonged  to  the  great  party 
that  built  it.  The  words  of  the  great  Judge  came  to  my  mind. 
They  say  those  words  shall  be  spoken  when  the  great  Prince 
of  Peace  and  the  King  at  the  Day  of  Judgment  shall  sit  upon 
His  throne  of  suns  and  stars  and  pronounce  the  final  judgment 
to  all  the  sons  of  men.  "I  was  afflicted  and  ye  ministered  unto 
me,"  and  when  some  shall  ask  when  this  was  done,  I  think 
that  He  will  point  to  the  poor,  the  insane,  the  deaf  and  dumb 


52  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

and  blind,  and  say  to  the  people  of  North  Carolina,  "Inasmuch 
as  you  did  it  to  the  least  of  these  my  little  ones,  you  did  it 
unto  me."  There  are  little  children  in  North  Carolina  that 
never  have  seen  the  light  of  morning  break  over  the  hills; 
they  have  never  seen  the  beautiful  tint  of  the  rosebud.  They 
have  never  hunted  for  four  leaf  clovers.  They  have  never 
played  with  the  little  ones  on  the  lawn.  They  have  never 
looked  up  and  seen  the  ineffable  love  that  beams  on  a  mother's 
face.  They  have  never  seen  God's  rainbow  spanning  earth  and 
heaven,  like  a  chariot  race  for  the  angels  to  ascend  and 
descend.  North  Carolina  built  a  heme  for  them.  It  employed 
teachers,  that  they  might  move  their  fingers  over  the  raised 
letters  and  learn  to  be  enlightened  men  and  women. 

In  all  ages  of  the  world  there  have  been  places  of  sanctuary. 
We  read  in  the  Bible  that  around  the  Holy  City  there  were 
cities  called  Cities  of  Refuge,  and  though  a  man  had  stained 
his  hand  in  the  blood  of  his  fellow  man,  if  he  fled  fast  enough 
and  got  within  the  gates  of  a  city  of  refuge  he  was  safe, 
because  the  avenger  of  blood  could  pursue  no  further.  Victor 
Hugo  tells  us  a  story  of  the  dark  ages.  A  beautiful  young 
girl  named  Esmeralda  was  tried  for  witchcraft  in  front  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  in  Paris.  There  on  the  judgment 
seat  sat  the  Inquisitor.  Here  was  the  beautiful  girl.  Around 
her  roared  and  raged  the  mob  of  Paris,  howling  for  her  blood. 
She  was  asked  what  had  she  to  say.  In  her  innocence  she 
said,  "I  am  not  guilty."  They  bared  her  beautiful  limb  and 
placed  upon  her  knee  the  instrument  of  torture,  and  pressed 
it.  She  shrieked  in  pain,  but  in  her  innocence  she  said,  "I  will 
not  confess.  Have  mercy."  There  was  no  mercy  there.  Again 
they  pressed  the  instrument  of  torture,  and  in  her  anguish 
the  poor,  frail,  tender  nature  broke  down.  She  said,  "I  con- 
fess, but  oh,  have  mercy."  There  was  no  mercy  there.  They 
bared  her  beautiful  neck  for  the  executioner's  knife,  and  were 
preparing  for  the  bloody  work.  All  this  time  Quasimodo, 
the  hunchback  bell  ringer  of  Notre  Dame,  was  watching  this 
scene  from  one  of  the  balconies  above.  He  let  down  a  rope, 
and  with  the  nimbleness  of  a  cat  slid  down,  and  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye  grabbed  Esmeralda  in  his  arms  and  ran 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  53 

along  the  balconies  of  Notre  Dame,  crying  "Sanctuary,  Sanc- 
tuary." Before  him  the  wild,  infuriated  mob  of  Paris  stood 
back.  There  was  no  bloodthirsty  villain  that  dared  violate 
this  Temple  of  the  Sanctuary.  But  in  1895  and  1897  there 
was  no  place  of  sanctuary  in  North  Carolina.  They  attempted 
to  break  into  the  asylums.  They  sent  Jim  Young,  a  negro, 
into  that  temple  which  we  had  built  for  the  deaf  and  dumb 
and  blind  children  of  North  Carolina.  They  engraved  his 
name  in  marble  on  the  cornerstone  as  an  everlasting  monu- 
ment to  their  infamy.  The  Democratic  Legislature  of  1899 
took  a  chisel  of  cold  steel  and  took  out  that  name,  but  the 
scar  remains.  This  Amendment  to  our  Constitution  will  for- 
ever prevent  the  recurrence  of  such  times  of  infamy  and  dis- 
grace to  the  white  people  of  this  State. 

It  is  no  accident  that  every  time  the  negroes  get  in  control 
we  have  bad  government  and  anarchy  and  bloodshed.  They 
stand  in  a  solid  phalanx  120,000  strong,  and  have  stood  that 
way  for  twenty-five  years.  If  you  wish  to  find  the  lowest 
type  of  the  human  race,  whether  it  be  man  or  woman,  go  to 
that  quarter  of  the  city  where  whites  and  negroes  associate 
together  on  terms  of  social  equality.  There  you  will  find 
humanity  crawling  in  the  filthiest  slime  of  moral  and  social 
degradation.  If  you  wish  to  find  the  lowest  type  of  a  public 
man,  a  man  who  aspires  to  place  and  power,  it  is  the  man 
who  associates  on  terms  of  political  equality  with  the  negroes, 
who  will  go  to  their  night  meetings  and  appeal  to  their  ignor- 
ance and  prejudice  and  race  hatred.  Here  stands  this  body 
of  120,000  voters.  Unfortunately  there  are  many  white  men 
in  North  Carolina  v/ho  will  be  tempted  by  the  emoluments  and 
power  of  public  office  to  ally  themselves  with  these  negroes. 
It  is  the  only  way  that  they  can  control  them.  With  such 
white  leaders  they  are  always  a  threat  to  the  State,  and  when 
the  people  become  careless  and  inattentive  they  slip  into 
power.  They  must  obey  the  dictates  of  their  masters  who 
placed  them  there,  and  then  we  have  negro  rule,  or  what  is 
worse  than  negro  rule,  the  rule  of  the  renegade  white  man. 
The  people  of  North  Carolina  will  not  submit  to  such  govern- 
ment. If  they  should  become  indifferent  and  submit,  it  would 
be  worse  than  war  and  pestilence  and  famine.    The  scorching 


54  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

winds  and  untimely  frost  may  wither  and  blight  your  grain 
fields,  and  kill  the  corn  and  wheat  and  fruitage,  but  God's  rain 
and  sunshine  will  again  clothe  hill  and  mead  in  verdure,  and 
harvest  fields  will  wave  in  golden  splendor.  The  desolating 
spirit  of  war  may  breathe  upon  this  land  as  it  has  done,  and 
leave  nothing  in  its  wake  but  desolation  and  tears,  and 
mothers  and  sisters  in  mourning,  but  the  olive  branch  of  peace 
will  grow,  battle  flags  will  be  furled ;  on  the  fields  of  death,  the 
roses  of  summer  will  bloom  in  perennial  beauty,  and  from  the 
soil  consecrated  by  the  blood  of  the  brave  a  nobler  race  will 
come.  But  over  such  degradation  of  the  manhood  and  the 
womanhood  of  this  State  as  would  come  from  negro  domina- 
tion and  negro  equality,  there  would  come  no  rejuvenating 
spring.  The  white  people  of  North  Carolina  do  not  intend 
that  the  negroes  shall  rule  this  State.  If  the  negroes  are 
entitled  to  vote,  in  every  locality,  in  every  city  where  they 
have  a  majority  they  are  entitled  to  govern.  If  they  are 
entitled  to  vote  they  are  entitled  to  govern  Wilmington,  New- 
bern,  and  many  of  the  fairest  sections  in  North  Carolina.  We 
know  that  this  is  a  lie,  a  glaring  lie,  a  lie  that  burns  into  the 
heart  of  every  white  man  in  North  Carolina,  and  they  will  not 
endure  it.  When  the  armies  of  Louis  XIV  were  marching 
towards  Holland,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  power  of  the  great 
king  was  invincible,  William,  Prince  of  Orange,  called  the 
State's  Generals  together,  and  in  solemn  council  they  deter- 
mined that  sooner  than  the  armies  of  their  ancient  enemy 
should  overrun  their  country,  they  would  cut  loose  the  dykes 
and  let  the  ocean  roll  in;  that  nothing  should  be  seen  above 
the  waves  except  the  towers  and  steeples  of  the  cities  of 
Holland.  We  too  have  come  to  the  same  unconquerable  de- 
termination that  an  alien  race  shall  not  overrun  and  rule  this 
State  of  our  inheritance. 

The  negro  was  not  born  to  govern.  In  the  scale  of  hu- 
manity he  stands  the  lowest,  the  Anglo-Saxon  the  highest. 
Consider  the  poor  man,  if  you  please,  the  one  gallus  fellow, 
with  no  hat  on,  or  his  hair  sticking  through  a  hat  with  no  top 
to  it.  He  may  not  know  anything  about  books.  He  may  be 
careless,  indifferent  as  to  his  condition,  but  that  man  has 
flowing  in  his  veins  the  blood  of  fifty  generations  of  slave 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  55 

governing  ancestors.  He  has  behind  him  two  thousand  years 
of  brave  manhood  and  you  rouse  him,  let  a  negro  assert 
superiority  and  the  right  to  rule  him,  and  that  man  is  like  a 
devil  turned  loose.  He  will  not  submit  to  it.  We  read  in 
Tacitus  that  2,000  years  ago,  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  our 
forefathers,  a  race  of  naked,  half  armed  barbarians,  died 
before  the  legions  of  Caesar,  but  not  a  man  surrendered.  It 
was  this  blood  that  thundered  in  the  veins  of  Cromwell  and 
the  soldiers  of  the  Covenant,  when  on  Marston  Moor  and 
Naseby  Field  they  drove  in  headlong,  right  to  the  arms  of  the 
aliens.  It  was  these  men  who  stood  like  a  granite  wall  at 
Waterloo,  against  which  the  far  glancing  chivalry  of  France, 
the  Grand  Army  and  the  Old  Guard  of  the  Emperor,  broke 
like  surges  against  a  rock.  It  was  our  ancestors  who  re- 
claimed this  New  World,  who  drove  back  the  savage.  Before 
their  pioneer  axes  primeval  forests  fell  down.  The  eastern 
marsh  and  the  mountain  wilderness  were  transformed  into 
wide  seed  fields  and  steepled  cities.  In  all  ages  they  have 
gone  forth,  not  as  Rome  sent  forth  her  legions,  to  conquer, 
rule  and  crush,  but  to  civilize  and  Christianize,  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  great  States  and  Empires  and  Republics,  to 
establish  Constitutional  Government  and  administer  equity  to 
the  weak. 

And  you  men  assembled  here  today  bear  testimony  with 
me.  I  say  it  in  memory  of  the  glorious  traditions  of  the  past. 
I  say  it  by  the  right  arms  of  one  hundred  thousand  Anglo- 
Saxon  men,  by  the  prayers  of  one  hundred  thousand  Anglo- 
Saxon  women.  I  swear  it  by  the  indominitable  courage  of 
the  men  who  met  the  peril  at  Gettysburg  and  Bull  Run,  by 
the  bones  of  our  brothers,  that  are  sleeping  in  the  battle- 
scarred  bosom  of  old  Virginia.  I  say  it  by  warrant  of  Him 
who  ordains  in  Omnipotence  the  order  of  Dominion.  I  say  that 
North  Carolina  is  the  heritage  of  the  white  man,  and  shall 
forever  be  ruled  by  the  white  race. 


56  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

SPEECH  ON  RESOLUTION  FOR  THE 
IMPEACHMENT  OF  JUDGES 

NOTE:  The  account  of  the  debate  in  the  House,  during  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  1901,  is  taken  from  The  News  and  Observer  of  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1901,  which  also  gives  a  vivid  description  of  the  scene  that 
day,  as  well  as  the  speech  of  Mr.  Craig. 

The  lightnings  of  a  great  excitement  on  Monday  shot 
athwart  the  sky  of  the  North  Carolina  General  Assembly  and 
the  thunder  thereof  shook  the  very  dome  of  the  capitol. 

It  was  the  fourth  and  last  day  of  the  debate  in  the  House 
on  the  resolution  for  impeachment  of  two  of  the  Supreme 
Court  Judges.  It  ended — as  all  had  seen  for  days  it  must 
end — in  adoption  of  the  resolution. 

The  vote  was  62  to  33,  and  its  announcement  was  greeted 
with  a  roar  of  applause.  The  hands  on  the  clock  pointed  to 
2:15. 

It  was  a  history-making  day,  the  like  of  which  it  is  to  be 
hoped  North  Carolina  will  not  see  again.  Realizing  that  to 
witness  such  an  event  was  the  opportunity  of  a  life-time,  peo- 
ple had  gone  to  the  House  early.  Women  folk  crowded  the 
galleries,  their  gay  dresses  making  great  splashes  of  color 
against  the  white  walls  and  pillars.  In  the  lobbies  men 
elbowed  each  other  and  every  available  seat  on  the  floor  of 
the  House  was  called  into  use. 

Argument  on  the  resolution  began  at  10:00  and  the  vote 
was  to  be  taken  at  2:00  o'clock.  Of  this  time,  the  first  two 
and  a  half  hours  were  allotted  to  the  Republicans.  They  spoke 
generally  from  manuscript  or  notes,  and  were  plainly  very 
guarded  in  their  utterances.  Mr.  Ebbs  made  the  principal 
argument;  he  was  followed  by  Messrs.  Owen,  Mcintosh, 
Petree  and  Blythe.    This  exhausted  their  two  and  a  half  hours. 

The  first  speakers  on  the  Democratic  side  were  Messrs. 
Alexander,  White  of  Halifax,  and  Morphew,  who  consumed 
five  minutes  each.  Then  Mr.  Craig,  introducer  of  the  reso- 
lution in  the  House,  was  recognized  to  make  the  concluding 
argument. 

When  he  arose,  the  hall  was  packed  almost  to  suffocation, 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  57 

but  the  stillness  of  death  pervaded  it,  and  every  eye  was 
turned  toward  the  speaker. 

He  began  slowly,  deliberately,  telling  of  the  gravity  of 
the  question  presented  to  the  House  and  the  awe  with  which 
he  approached  it.  Then  he  referred  to  the  solemnity  of  an 
impeachment  proceeding,  declared  it  the  keynote  of  the  Con- 
stitution, not  put  there  as  a  scarecrow  but  as  a  shield  of  the 
law.  Already  the  voice  of  the  speaker  had  risen  till  he  could 
be  heard  in  the  farthest  recesses  of  the  hall,  his  eyes  began 
to  gleam  with  the  fire  of  enthusiasm  and  a  roar  of  applause 
swept  over  his  audience  when  he  declared  that  "today  the 
majesty  of  the  people,  exercised  under  forms  handed  down 
from  the  fathers,  speaking  through  their  representatives  will 
remind  the  highest  judges  in  this  land  that  they  too  are 
amenable  to  law  and  must  answer  for  its  violation  at  the  bar 
of  the  High  Court  of  Impeachment." 

Now  the  speaker's  utterances  became  more  rapid,  and 
self-consciousness  had  passed  away,  he  had  forgotten  himself 
in  his  subject.  His  words  of  denunciation  went  hissing  across 
the  hall  like  hailstones  in  a  storm :  "And,  gentlemen,  I  say  if 
there  ever  was  a  time  when  the  extraordinary  power  of  im- 
peachment ought  to  be  invoked  it  is  now.  Go  search  the 
record  of  all  judges  from  the  time  of  Jeffries  down  to  the 
present  and  you'll  find  no  example  in  which  judges  usurped 
so  much  power  as  these." 

People  in  the  lobbies  crowded  closer  and  closer  to  the 
speaker,  but  the  stillness  was  unbroken  and  the  speaker's 
words  rang  out  more  clear  and  more  scathing  as  he  proceeded. 
Old  men  who  had  gone  through  the  terrors  of  war  wept  as  he 
told  how  men  had  sacrificed  life  and  home  and  all  for  a  con- 
stitutional principle,  and  finally,  as  he  pointed  to  the  picture 
of  Vance,  and  appealed  to  "those  dumb  lips  to  speak  and  guide 
aright  the  people  that  had  so  loved  to  honor  him,"  a  perfect 
whirlwind  of  applause  swept  over  the  floor  and  gallery,  last- 
ing so  long  that  Mr.  Craig  had  to  pause  until  he  could  be 
heard. 

It  was  a  great  speech,  greatest  of  this  memorable  debate. 
High  in  thought,  broad  in  conception,  convincing  in  argument 


58  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

and  terrible  in  denunciation,  but  above  all  eloquent.  Men  were 
thrilled  and  swayed  by  it  as  only  the  true  orator  and  the 
thinker  can  thrill  and  sway  them. 

Mr.  Craig  spoke  for  an  hour  and  five  minutes  and  when 
he  ceased  there  was  a  wild  scene  of  applause  lasting  many 
seconds.  Members  rushed  forward  to  congratulate  him  on 
his  superb  effort. 

Mr.  Craig's  Speech 

"Gentlemen  of  the  House:  It  is  said  by  some  that  this 
resolution  ought  to  have  been  introduced  in  caucus,  so  that 
our  party  friends  might  have  there  considered  its  advisability. 
It  is  not  a  party  matter  and  should  not  be  decided  upon  a 
question  of  politics.  It  should  be  considered  on  a  higher  plane 
than  that.  Each  member  of  this  House  should  consider  this 
question  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience  and 
not  according  to  the  dictates  of  any  party  caucus. 

"I  shall  not  discuss  the  gravity  of  this  occasion.  I  believe 
that  every  member  of  this  House  sits  here  in  the  full  realiza- 
tion of  his  solemn  and  momentous  responsibility.  These  pro- 
ceedings for  the  last  few  days,  or  as  my  friend  from  Martin 
has  termed  it,  this  'spectacle'  has  been  witnessed  with  great 
interest  by  the  people.  I  hope  its  necessity  has  been  wit- 
nessed with  great  sorrow  by  all  good  people.  It  is  no  difficult 
task  to  bring  the  smaller  offender  to  the  bar  of  justice — the 
poor,  the  weak,  the  feeble — but  today  the  majesty  of  the  peo- 
ple of.  North  Carolina,  acting  under  the  forms  handed  down 
from  days  of  the  fathers  of  the  Revolution,  and  speaking 
through  the  voice  of  their  chosen  representatives,  teach  the 
great  truth  so  plainly  that  'he  who  runs  may  read/  that  the 
highest  judges  are  amenable  to  law  and  must  answer  for  its 
violation  at  the  bar  of  the  High  Court  of  Impeachment.  (Ap- 
plause.) I  rejoice  that  this  is  yet  a  land  of  law  and  constitu- 
tional government.  While  there  is  none  so  low  and  so  feeble 
as  to  be  beneath  its  reach,  there  is  none  so  high  and  great  and 
powerful  as  to  be  above  it.     (Loud  Applause.) 

"The  power  of  impeachment,  as  I  understand  it,  is  the 
very  keystone  of  the  Constitution.  It  was  not  put  there  as  a 
scare-crow.    It  was  not  put  there  as  dry  bones  to  be  rattled. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  59 

It  was  not  put  there  for  the  purpose  of  shooting  fire  crackers, 
as  the  Chinese  did  when  they  attacked  the  legations  at  Pekin, 
but  it  was  put  there  as  a  vital  force  of  the  Constitution,  as  a 
shield  of  the  Constitution;  not  to  protect  the  right  of  the 
private  citizen — the  law  of  the  State  and  the  Constitution  do 
that,  and  if  the  right  of  any  citizen  be  infringed  he  can  go  into 
court  and  vindicate  himself  and  claim  his  rights  and  have 
these  rights  enforced.  But  this  court  of  impeachment  was 
organized  and  established  by  our  fathers  to  protect  and  main- 
tain that  law.  Whenever  we  fail  to  exercise  our  duty  as  a 
court  of  impeachment,  sitting  here  with  the  power  to  impeach, 
while  we  do  not  strike  directly  at  the  liberty  and  the  rights 
of  the  citizen,  we  are  responsible  for  the  destruction  of  the 
law  and  the  Constitution,  the  shield  and  protection  of  every 
man. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  House :  I  say  if  there  ever  was  a  time 
in  human  history,  if  there  ever  was  a  period  in  this  Govern- 
ment or  any  other  Government  when  the  high  and  extra- 
ordinary power  given  to  this  high  court  of  impeachment 
should  be  invoked,  it  is  here  in  the  year  1901,  and  by  the 
General  Assembly  elected  by  the  people  of  1900.  As  I  say, 
you  may  search  all  history;  you  may  read  the  history  of  all 
the  judges  who  presided  over  the  courts  of  English-speaking 
people — go  search  the  bloody  record  of  Jeffries,  read  the  trial 
of  the  seven  Bishops,  examine  the  records  of  all  the  judges 
that  have  presided  over  the  country  from  then  until  now,  and 
in  all  the  history  of  jurisprudence,  you  will  find  that  never 
have  judges  been  guilty  of  such  usurpation  to  destroy  a  co- 
ordinate branch  of  the  Government.     (Applause.) 

"In  1898  a  terrible  state  of  affairs  existed  in  North  Car- 
olina. It  was  a  state  of  affairs  that  brought  shame  and 
humiliation  to  every  man  and  woman  in  the  State  who  was 
proud  of  our  past  record  and  gloried  in  our  past  history.  That 
serpent  that  had  crept  in  secrecy  and  filth  and  slime  for  thirty 
years  in  this  Commonwealth,  in  1897  and  1895  raised  for  the 
first  time  its  head  in  this  capitol,  and  licked  out  its  forked 
tongue  of  fire  and  poison  and  ruin.  (Prolonged  Applause.) 
The  East  was  under  its  dominion  and  the  West  did  not  escape. 
It  polluted  and  disgraced  every  public  institution  of  this  State. 


60  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

(Applause.)  The  people  of  North  Carolina  were  aroused ;  not 
only  the  men  but  the  women  also.  They  were  determined  to 
come  to  her  defense  and  take  possession  of  the  State  of  our 
fathers,  and  preserve  the  heritage  which  they  bequeathed 
to  us. 

"There  was  a  great  social  and  political  revolution  in  North 
Carolina.  The  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  came  to 
this  capitol  in  1899  with  a  great  mission.  They  came  here 
with  the  great  command  of  the  people;  they  came  here,  if 
you  please,  to  right  this  wrong ;  to  drive  these  rascals  out  and 
keep  them  out.  They  came  to  clean  out  this  Augean  stable. 
(Laughter  and  Applause.)  They  cleaned  it  out.  I  thank  my 
talented  young  friend  from  the  County  of  Franklin  for  his 
eulogy  on  that  Legislature.  They  cleaned  it  out  according  to 
the  Constitution  and  according  to  the  written  law  of  this 
land.     (Applause.) 

"I  shuddered  when  my  friend  from  Martin  said  that  they 
passed  these  laws  in  subversion  of  law  and  to  over-ride  the 
law.  I  can  see  how  the  gentleman  from  Madison  can  say  that, 
or  the  gentleman  from  Stokes.  I  can  remember  how,  on  this 
floor,  he  (Stubbs)  stood  here  and  voted  for  these  laws,  and 
now  says  that  the  laws  were  intended  to  subvert  the  Consti- 
tution. (Applause.)  The  Legislature  of  1899,  after  perform- 
ing its  great  and  arduous  duty,  adjourned  and  left  this  capitol. 
We  left  with  forebodings  of  alarm.  We  left  with  feelings 
that  our  work  might  be  undone,  because  we  knew  the  political 
education  and  the  feeling  of  the  men  who  controlled  another 
co-ordinate  branch  of  the  Government.  No  sooner  had  we 
adjourned  and  gone  home  than  the  Supreme  Court  of  North 
Carolina,  in  violation  of  the  prerogative  conferred  on  them  by 
the  Constitution,  began  a  systematic,  continuous  and  deter- 
mined attack  upon  the  work  of  the  General  Assembly  of  '99. 
My  distinguished  friend  from  Mecklenburg  said,  that  when 
the  decision  in  the  Day  case  was  rendered,  it  shocked  his  moral 
conscience.  It  shocked  the  moral  conscience  of  every  lawyer 
and  every  man  in  North  Carolina.  (Applause.)  It  was  an 
admitted  power  of  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina 
to  abolish  an  office.  That  was  decided  expressly  in  Hoke  vs. 
Henderson ;  but  when  the  Day  case  was  decided  by  that  court 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  61 

it  established  the  unheard  of  doctrine  that  no  office  could  be 
destroyed  until  the  term  was  out.  They  held  that  Day  was 
not  only  entitled  to  the  office,  and  to  the  emoluments  thereof, 
but  that  he  was  entitled  to  the  duties  of  the  office,  and  until 
its  duties  ceased,  the  office  could  not  be  abolished.  Of  course 
the  duties  cannot  be  abolished  as  long  as  the  Government 
stands.  This  is  in  the  case  of  Hoke  vs.  Henderson.  The  Day 
case  was  the  first.  Every  man  in  the  State  who  had  tried  to 
keep  back  the  social  and  political  revolution;  every  man  who 
had  stood  in  defiance  of  the  will  of  the  people,  the  great  peo- 
ple of  this  State,  sent  up  a  shout  of  triumph ;  and  from  those 
who  had  over-ridden  North  Carolina  and  ruined  her  and 
brought  her  to  degradation,  there  went  up  a  shout  of  triumph 
because  they  knew  that  this  was  the  beginning  of  the  work 
of  destruction,  that  these  judges  had  the  power  and  would 
exercise  that  power  flagrantly  and  defiantly. 

"We  effected  the  great  reformation  and  went  home. 
Within  six  months  there  was  scarcely  an  act  of  that  great 
body  left;  a  few  stock  laws,  some  bills  to  protect  fish  in 
Hanging  Dog  Creek  (laughter),  a  few  dispensary  bills  and 
acts  of  incorporation.  (Applause.)  But  the  great  reforms 
which  we  promised  the  people  to  carry  out  and  which  we  did 
carry  out  were  destroyed.  What  became  of  these?  They 
were  trampled  down  and  ignored  amid  the  scoffs  and  jeers  of 
the  men  who  had  stood  in  the  way  of  the  social,  moral  and 
political  progress  of  this  State.  This  court  wiped  out  the  law 
and  scoffed  at  the  lawmaker.  There  was  one  great  act  that 
was  left  standing.  Yes,  we  went  before  our  constituents  and 
promised  these  reforms  to  the  people,  and  we  complied  with 
our  promise.  (Applause.)  But  if  the  Supreme  Court  is  right 
we  were  wrong,  and  we  came  here  under  false  pretenses,  and 
the  Legislature  of  1899  was  a  sham  and  a  delusion  and  a  fraud. 
There  was  one  law  that  they  did  not  abolish;  I  believe  there 
was  only  one  act  of  political  import  of  the  General  Assembly 
that  was  not  abolished ;  that  was  the  Election  Law.  How  did 
we  prevent  that?  Gentlemen  of  this  House  tell  us  that  the 
court  did  not  intend  to  do  wrong;  that  it  did  not  intend  to 
abolish  the  law  and  ignore  the  General  Assembly  and  trample 
on  the  Constitution.    There  is  not  a  man  in  North  Carolina 


62  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

that  does  not  know  better.  We  all  know  it ;  we  feel  it  in  our 
consciences.     (Applause.) 

"This  one  law  was  not  abolished,  and  it  was  not  abolished 
because  the  Legislature  did  not  adjourn.  This  General 
Assembly  was  seated  here  in  perpetual  session,  from  the  10th 
of  March,  when  the  regular  session  ended,  yes,  in  perpetual 
session  to  the  1st  of  August,  1900,  sitting  like  the  Constituent 
Assembly  of  France  in  the  throes  of  the  Revolution.  For 
what  ?  Sitting  here  holding,  as  it  were,  a  sword  to  protect  us 
from  our  own  Supreme  Court.  That  was  the  only  way  we 
could  protect  our  election  law.  (Applause.)  Gentlemen,  listen 
to  it:  You  who  came  here,  yes,  every  Democrat  came;  I  do 
not  care  how  poor  he  was ;  and  I  know  many  of  them  left  home 
and  took  the  last  dollar  out  of  their  pockets  to  come  here,  and 
paid  their  own  expenses  and  stayed  as  long  as  it  was  necessary 
to  stay;  came  here  when  the  capitol  was  in  a  state  of  terror! 
Why?  Good  lawyers  had  been  employed  and  were  in  con- 
sultation with  these  men  who  were  seeking  to  overthrow  the 
laws  of  the  State.  We  found  it  necessary,  gentlemen,  to  strike 
from  our  books,  so  far  as  the  election  law  was  concerned,  the 
great  writs  of  mandamus  and  injunction.  That  is  how  this 
election  law  was  protected  by  that  General  Assembly.  I  hated 
to  vote  for  the  abolition  of  those  writs.  They  were  a  part  of 
the  great  common  law  handed  down  to  us  from  the  men  who 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  English  Constitution.  We  voted  for 
the  abolition  of  those  writs  to  curb  the  power  of  this  judicial 
oligarchy,  that  was  the  willing  instrument  of  the  men  who 
wished  to  bring  into  contempt  the  Legislature  of  1899  that 
they  might  again  assume  control  of  this  State,  and  bring  back 
to  high  places  the  minions  of  the  black  horde  that  had  plun- 
dered the  State.  Who  does  not  fear  these  judges?  Who  does 
not  think  they  are  dangerous? 

"A  great  deal  has  been  said  about  the  court  of  impeach- 
ment. The  court  of  impeachment  is  not  a  court  for  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  offenders;  not  at  all.  We  do  not  deal  with 
these  judges  as  we  deal  with  individuals,  but  we  deal  with 
them  in  their  official  capacity.  It  matters  not  what  they  may 
do,  so  far  as  this  court  is  concerned.  They  may  commit  mur- 
der, burglary,  or  violate  the  criminal  laws  of  this  State,  but 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  63 

the  court  of  impeachment  could  not  lay  one  finger  upon  a  hair 
of  their  head  or  one  dollar  of  their  property.  Where  is  the 
man  that  will  say  that  they  are  not  dangerous  to  the  law  of 
this  land?  The  General  Assembly  of  1899  adjourned  and 
went  home  with  the  earnest  hope  for  peace.  Yes,  gentlemen, 
let's  adjourn  and  go  home  again  with  a  prayer  and  with  a 
hope  of  peace.  (Laughter.)  A  General  Assembly  that  will 
stay  here  from  day  to  day  in  perpetual  session  and  then  be 
destroyed  can  fulminate  as  much  as  it  pleases.  What  will  it 
amount  to  ?  It  stands  discredited  in  this  State  so  far  as  these 
judges  can  discredit  it.  Every  single  political  decision  that 
was  made  was  made  in  antagonism  to  and  to  destroy  the 
Legislature  of  '99,  and  that  we  all  know.     (Applause.) 

"Gentlemen,  I  do  not  believe  that  these  judges  over-rode 
the  Constitution  and  destroyed  our  statute  law  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  reinstating  the  fusion  office-holders.  There  was  a 
greater  purpose  beyond.  They  were  going  to  the  destruction 
of  that  which  was  permanent,  that  which  guarantees  that  this 
State  and  her  future  destiny  shall  be  controlled  by  the  moral 
and  intellectual  manhood  of  North  Carolina.  They  were 
blazing  the  way. 

"Finally  they  came  to  the  case  of  White  against  the 
Auditor.  The  gentleman  from  Forsyth  was  talking  the  other 
day  about  mental  gymnastics,  but  by  some  kind  of  judicial 
gymnastics  these  judges  leaped  over  all  repealing  statutes, 
they  got  upon  the  stilts  of  'In  Paria  Materia'  and  leaped  over 
the  Constitution  and  the  law  and  turned  out  Hill  and  the  six 
other  commissioners.  They  went  to  the  dusty  archives  and 
searched  up  the  old  English  doctrine  of  'In  Paria  Materia.' 
They  gave  to  it  a  meaning  which  it  never  had.  In  order  to 
perform  their  duties,  the  law  prescribed  that  these  seven 
Shell  Fish  Commissioners  must  be  at  their  posts  of  duty  in 
seven  different  places  at  the  same  time.  Although  in  the 
case  of  the  State's  Prison  vs.  Day  they  have  decided  that  the 
duties  of  an  officer  could  not  be  transferred  to  another,  in 
White  vs.  Hill  they  clothed  White  with  duties  that  were  never 
given  to  him  by  any  statute ;  and  in  the  opinion  in  Abbott  vs. 
Beddingfield  they  invested  Abbott  with  the  powers  not  only 
of  Railroad  Commissioner,  but  a  Bank  Examiner  and  powers 


64  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

therefore  exercised  by  the  State  Treasurer  and  the  State 
Auditor.  This  was  not  only  in  violation  of  law  and  every 
statute,  but  in  violation  of  the  doctrine  laid  down  in  State's 
Prison  vs.  Day. 

"Why  did  we  pass  Chapter  21,  Laws  of  1899  ?  Why  did  we 
pass  it,  gentlemen?  We  were  afraid  that  the  Supreme  Court 
would  turn  Hill  and  the  other  six  commissioners  out,  were  we 
not  ?  And  we  did  not  intend  that  the  court  that  turned  them 
out  should  usurp  the  powers  of  the  Government  by  placing  any 
one  else  in,  and  we  knew  that  White  wanted  the  money  that 
was  in  it,  and  that  was  all  that  he  cared  for ;  and  so  the  statute 
provides  that  he  could  not  get  his  money.  Would  the  judges 
say  that  they  did  not  know  that  was  what  the  Legislature 
meant?    I  read  Chapter  21,  Laws  of  '99. 

"Now,  gentlemen,  I  thought  that  was  where  the  gentle- 
man from  Franklin  got  confused  in  his  argument.  The  act 
says,  'The  State  Treasurer  shall  not  pay  any  person  or  per- 
sons unless  such  person  or  persons  be  authorized' — authorized 
by  what?  By  the  act  of  1899.  He  is  not  forbidden  to  pay 
any  person  unless  he  is  performing  the  duties  prescribed  by 
the  Act  of  1899 ;  he  is  not  forbidden  to  pay  any  persons  unless 
they  are  carrying  out  the  objects  of  the  Act  of  1899,  but  he 
is  forbidden  to  pay  any  person  unless  that  person  is  authorized 
by  the  Act  of  1899.  He  must  go  to  the  Treasurer  clothed  with 
the  authority  of  the  Act  of  1899.  Hill  and  six  other  men  are 
the  only  ones  authorized  by  the  Act  of  1899;  White  is  not 
authorized.  Chapter  21  says  in  words  as  plain  as  can  be 
written  that  he  should  not  be  paid  by  the  Treasurer.  That  is 
the  legislative  mandamus.  It  estimates  from  the  only  power 
that  has  the  right  to  control  the  finances.  The  Legislature 
had  the  right  under  the  Constitution  to  say  that  he  should 
not.  When  the  judges  said  that  he  should  it  was  a  plain  and 
unmistakable  usurpation  of  power,  and  in  defiance  not  only 
of  the  statute,  but  of  Article  4,  Section  9,  of  the  Constitution. 
This  law  is  so  plain  that  no  one  can  misunderstand  it. 

"What  shall  we  do  with  these  judges,  gentlemen?  That 
is  really  the  only  question.  It  is  almost  unanimously  admitted 
by  the  Democrats  of  this  House  that  they  have  wilfully  vio- 
lated the  law  and  the  Constitution ;  that  they  are  impeachable. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  65 

The  question  is,  what  shall  we  do  ?  The  gentleman  from  Wil- 
son in  his  speech  in  their  defense,  said  in  substance  that  they 
had  violated  the  law  and  culminated  in  violating  the  law,  and 
that  we  ought  to  fulminate  against  them.  What  ?  Fulminate 
and  fulminate  and  culminate  in  fulminating?  (Laughter.) 
Was  there  not  a  fulmination  from  this  General  Assembly  in 
June,  1900,  and  when  every  one  of  these  opinions  had  been 
handed  down?  Has  there  not  been  delivered  a  warning  to 
these  judges  in  the  shape  of  a  dissenting  opinion?  Why  shall 
we  fulminate?  Has  not  the  Chief  Justice  defiantly  declared 
that  any  threat  of  impeachment  will  not  deter  him.  A  ful- 
mination such  as  the  gentleman  jf  Wilson  would  have  us 
adopt,  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  threat  of  impeachment. 
The  gentleman  from  Wilson  properly  says  that  if  a  threat 
would  not  deter  him  he  ought  to  be  Impeached;  if  it  would 
not  deter  him  it  is  futile.  I  do  not  mean  to  reflect  upon  the 
gentleman  from  Wilson.  He  is  one  of  the  ablest  men  in  this 
State  and  one  of  the  best  beloved  men,  whose  presence  honors 
this  General  Assembly.  I  certainly  would  not  reflect  on  the 
courage  of  men  who  favor  the  substitute,  for  men  who  can 
walk  up  and  face  a  proposition  like  that,  could  stand  unterrified 
before  an  army  with  banners. 

"What  shall  we  do  ?  The  gentleman  from  Wilson  says  we 
must  not  apply  the  heroic  remedy.  We  have  applied  heroic 
remedies  in  North  Carolina.  But  for  heroic  action  we  would 
not  be  here.  I  will  ask  the  gentleman  from  Scotland  how  was 
it  that  only  two  votes  were  cast  against  the  Amendment  in 
his  county  if  it  were  not  on  account  of  the  heroism  of  the 
men  of  Scotland?  (Applause.)  Why  is  the  high-minded  and 
able  son  of  Wilson  here  to  serve  his  County  and  his  State 
except  by  heroic  action  of  his  constituents  ?  In  the  mountain 
section  of  this  State  I  have  stood  in  the  presence  of  armed 
and  enraged  multitudes,  where  there  were  three  Republicans 
to  one  Democrat,  and  proclaimed  the  truth  of  Democracy. 
The  men  that  stood  by  me  were  heroes,  every  one  of  them. 
(Applause.)  They  feared  not  death  itself.  They  defied  the 
power  of  the  enemies  of  this  State.  Yes,  in  defiance  of  the 
Federal  Judges  and  Federal  Power,  the  people  of  this  State 
have  dared  to  do  their  duty  and  enforce  the  law.     (Renewed 


66  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

Applause.)  That  was  heroic  action.  And,  gentlemen,  re- 
membering those  men,  how  they  did  their  duty  like  heroes, 
I  propose  to  take  heroic  action  here  today. 

"You  (pointing  to  the  gentleman  from  Scotland,  amid  ap- 
plause), and  you  (pointing  to  the  gentleman  from  Wilson), 
have  sat  here  and  had  it  hurled  in  your  face  by  the  gentleman 
from  Madison  that  you  were  here  by  fraud  and  violation  of 
law.  I  have  stood  upon  this  floor  and  hurled  back  their 
charges  of  slander  upon  the  brave  men  of  the  East.  (Pro- 
longed Applause.)  The  175,000  men  that  stand  behind  us  are 
heroes,  and  were  willing  to  apply  heroic  remedy  to  save  North 
Carolina.  Shall  the  heroism  cease  with  them?  The  hour  has 
come  when  we  must  pull  down  from  the  high  places  the  men 
who  would  destroy  the  work  that  the  people  of  North  Car- 
olina have  accomplished.  Yes,  I  for  one,  am  willing  to  apply 
the  heroic  remedy.     (Loud  Applause.) 

"Talk  about  public  sentiment:  I  do  not  know  how  public 
sentiment  is.  It  is  not  my  greatest  concern  how  it  is.  My 
greatest  concern  is  to  know  the  right  and  do  it.  I  think  that 
public  sentiment  is  about  all  one  way.  I  have  heard  from  the 
men  of  the  mountains,  and  know  that  they  are  with  me.  In 
the  towns  of  the  State  there  are  some,  I  will  admit,  who  are 
afraid  of  what  other  people  may  think,  and  they  are  alarmed. 
There  is  a  public  sentiment  here  against  the  impeachment,  a 
public  sentiment  manufactured  by  a  powerful  lobby.  (Ap- 
plause.) It  is  always  thus,  when  you  attack  men  in  places  of 
power.  The  people  have  no  lobby.  They  are  at  home  attend- 
ing to  their  daily  occupations.  We  gentlemen  are  here  to 
represent  them,  that  great  constituency  that  has  no  lobby. 
So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  defy  that  lobby.  (Loud  and  Pro- 
longed Applause.)  Members  of  this  House  can  hardly  walk 
the  streets  without  being  button-holed  off  in  corners,  and  even 
the  Senate  itself — the  court  to  try  this  case,  has  been  ap- 
proached. 

"There  was  a  public  sentiment  in  this  State  when  Holden 
was  impeached.  Some  people  were  frightened,  and  advised 
against  it.  He,  too,  employed  great  lawyers  to  defend  him. 
There  was  one  that  he  could  not  employ.  Vance  was  offered 
a  fee  of  $5,000,  and  though  he  was  poor,  almost  needing  the 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  67 

necessities  of  life,  he  replied  that  no  amount  of  money  could 
purchase  his  services  against  his  people.  He  said  he  could 
live  and  die  in  poverty,  but  there  was  not  gold  enough  in  their 
coffers  to  buy  him.  (Applause.)  You  older  men  remember 
those  dark  days  of  '68.  There  were  great  men  in  this  State 
that  counselled  submission  to  a  victorious  enemy.  You  re- 
member how  the  great  leader  of  the  people  stood  upon  the 
portico  of  the  National  Hotel  and  hurled  defiance  at  the 
carpet-baggers  and  scalawags.  (Applause.)  His  voice  rang 
like  a  trumpet  note  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea.  He  saved 
North  Carolina.  I  wish  that  we  had  a  Vance  today.  (Ap- 
plause.) Would  that  (pointing  to  Vance's  picture)  that  lion 
heart  could  speak  again;  that  from  those  lips  of  'love  and 
melting  pity  and  greatness  and  fiery  wrath/  there  could  come 
one  bugle  call.  This  public  sentiment  would  vanish.  He  would 
make  it  more  tolerable  for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  in  the  day 
of  judgment  than  for  these  men  in  North  Carolina  who  are 
trampling  down  our  Constitution  and  destroying  our  State. 
(Loud  Applause.)  Oh,  that  his  spirit  could  descend  upon 
some  of  his  beloved  and  talented  followers  today,  and  breathe 
into  them  the  spirit  of  the  men  of  '68  and  '70  and  '76.  There 
would  be  none  of  this  lobbying  here. 

"This  is  not  the  Constitution  of  '37  nor  of  '68  nor  of  '75. 
It  is  the  Constitution  that  has  been  building  since  the  day 
when  William  the  Norman  set  his  foot  upon  Britain.  It  is 
Magna  Charta,  the  Bill  of  Rights,  the  Declaration  of  Meck- 
lenburg, the  Declaration  of  Philadelphia,  moulded  into  one 
great  organic  law. 

"The  question  is,  shall  we  preserve  this  Constitution,  this 
heritage,  from  our  fathers?  The  $825.00  is  a  small  matter, 
but  if  they  violate  the  Constitution  for  that,  then  for  a  million 
dollars — for  the  special  tax  bonds,  they  would  destroy  it  and 
leave  not  one  stone  upon  another.  It  was  for  this  Constitu- 
tion that  our  fathers  went  to  battle  in  1861.  (Applause.)  It 
was  not  for  the  preservation  of  slavery  but  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  their  rights  guaranteed  by  the  organic  law.  It  was 
when  the  Constitution  was  violated  that  the  drums  began  to 
beat,  armies  set  out,  artillery  rattled  along,  clouds  of  cavalry 


68  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

galloped  in  the  storm,  and  Stonewall  Jackson,  transfigured 
into  an  arch  angel  of  war,  advanced  amid  the  thunders  of 
battle  with  a  united  people  at  his  back.  (Loud  Applause.) 
It  was  not  until  the  bodies  of  our  brothers  and  fathers  had 
been  crushed  into  the  bloody  earth  by  the  heel  of  an  invading 
army  that  the  Constitution  was  destroyed.  The  spirit  of  our 
people  was  not  broken;  they  hobbled  home  on  crutches  from 
Appomattox ;  with  empty  sleeves  they  came ;  they  had  nothing 
but  the  old  Confederate  uniform,  but  they  vouchsafed  to  us 
an  undying  devotion  to  Constitutional  Government.  In  the 
name  of  the  men  who  died  on  Cemetery  Hill,  in  the  name  of 
the  men  who  met  the  peril  in  the  Wilderness  and  in  trenches 
around  Richmond,  in  the  spirit  of  those  men  we  will  defend 
and  preserve  our  Constitution  today,  I  tell  you  it  does  require 
heroic  action.     (Loud  Applause.) 

"It  is  a  time  of  judicial  usurpation.  I  wish  I  had  time  to 
talk  about  it.  One  of  the  great  political  parties  of  this  country 
has  felt  it  necessary  to  make  a  solemn  declaration  against 
government  by  injunction.  We  have  felt  the  power  of  a 
Federal  Judge  from  South  Carolina.  He  enjoined  the  con- 
stituted officers  of  this  State  from  levying  taxes  on  powerful 
corporations.  (Applause.)  The  usurpation  of  power  by 
judges  must  be  stopped.  It  is  more  to  be  dreaded  today  than 
the  advances  of  an  imperial  army,     (Loud  Applause.) 

"If  this  supreme  oligarchy  can  flagrantly  and  imperiously 
destroy  the  statutes  of  this  State  one  after  another,  what  has 
become  of  the  government  by  the  people?  Do  these  judges 
expect  that  they  can  forever  continue  in  their  unprecedented 
usurpations  and  never  be  stopped?  Do  they  think  that  they 
can  tear  down  one  after  another  every  rule  of  law  and  every 
statute  that  conflicts  with  their  partisan  will,  and  that  one 
will  say  to  them,  nay?  They  cannot  forever  shield  them- 
selves behind  this  veil  of  sanctity  with  which  a  false  senti- 
ment has  protected  the  courts.  (Applause.)  The  time  has 
come  when  the  temple  must  be  purified  and  the  sacrilegious 
priests  must  be  driven  out.  If  what  we  have  seen  during  the 
past  two  years  is  in  accordance  with  the  law  and  the  Con- 
stitution, then  indeed  is  this  Government,  with  its  boasted 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  69 

institutions  and  three  co-ordinate  independent  branches  come 
to  naught. 

"It  is  a  poor  player  that  struts  and  frets  his  hour  upon  the 
stage,  and  then  is  seen  no  more. 

"It  is  a  tale  by  an  idol,  full  of  sound  and  fury,  signifying 
nothing 

"  'And  tomorrow,  and  tomorrow,  and  tomorrow,  creeps  in 
its  petty  pace  from  day  to  day  till  the  last  syllable  of  recorded 
time,  and  all  our  yesterdays  have  lighted  fools  the  way  to 
dusty  death.' 

"We  are  here  to  protect  our  Constitution.  That  is  our 
first  and  highest  duty.  There  are  no  politics  in  this  proceeding. 
We  have  not  allowed  politics  to  be  dragged  into  it.  The 
official  heads  of  the  Republican  Party  have  denounced  this  pro- 
ceeding as  wicked,  and  declared  that  it  was  instituted  for  the 
purpose  of  packing  the  Supreme  Court  to  consummate  a 
scheme  of  disfranchisement.  In  the  name  of  every  honest 
man  in  this  Legislature,  in  the  name  of  our  great  constituency, 
I  denounce  that  as  a  vile  slander.  (Applause.)  If  the  Supreme 
Court,  as  Pritchard  and  Pearson  and  Linney  have  intimated, 
intend  to  declare  our  amendment  unconstitutional,  that  this 
court  has  been  packed  for  that  purpose,  it  ought  to  be  un- 
packed. (Applause.)  We  adopted  that  great  measure.  After 
thirty  years  of  struggle  we  came  up  to  it  through  tribulation 
and  tears  and  heroism.  The  people  of  this  State  ordained  as 
amid  fire  and  trumpet  voices  that  it  should  be  a  law  unto  us 
and  to  our  children,  that  it  should  bring  peace  and  good  gov- 
ernment and  a  feeling  of  security  and  when  Pritchard  and 
Pearson  throw  that  down  before  this  House  as  guage  of  battle 
we  pick  it  up,  we  will  defend  it,  we  will  maintain  it  at  all 
hazards.  We  will  strip  from  the  shoulders  of  unworthy 
judges  the  ermine  that  was  worn  by  Gaston  and  Battle  and 
Merrimon,  and  Smith  and  Ruff  in,  the  great  judges  and  chan- 
cellors whose  learning  and  virtues  have  adorned  the  judicial 
history  of  the  English-speaking  people.      (Loud   Applause.) 

"We  may  build  monuments  to  the  great  men  of  the  past; 
we  can  best  honor  our  fathers  by  preserving  the  institutions 
which  they  have  left  us.    In  stern  condemnation  of  this  crime 


70  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

against  our  law,  in  dutiful  respect  of  our  fathers  whose  tra- 
ditions have  been  ignobly  thwarted,  in  the  name  of  the  Con- 
stitution which  has  been  outraged  —  of  the  laws  trampled 
down — of  peace  destroyed,  of  the  will  of  the  people  crushed 
to  earth,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Heavenly  Father  whose  ser- 
vice is  perfect  justice,  I  demand  that  David  M.  Furches,  Chief 
Justice  of  North  Carolina,  and  Robert  M.  Douglas,  Associate 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  North  Carolina,  be  impeached 
of  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors  in  office."  (Loud  and  Pro- 
longed Applause.) 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  71 

JOINT  DEBATE  WITH  SENATOR 
PRITCHARD 

(Charlotte,  October  9th,  1902) 

NOTE:  Mr.  Craig  said  he  always  felt  that  he  got  the  best  of 
Senator  Pritchard,  but  that  nobody  else  seemed  to  agree  with  him. 
The  fact  was  that  a  large  majority  of  Democrats  at  that  time  were 
not  for  him  for  Senator,  neither  were  any  of  the  Republicans,  so  that 
when  he  faced  Senator  Pritchard  in  debate,  he  faced  the  solid  oppo- 
sition of  the  Republicans,  and  the  opposition  of  the  friends  of  all  the 
other  Democratic  candidates,  leaving  his  boosters  in  the  minority. 
Nevertheless,  the  Democrats  were  loyal  and  enthusiastic  for  him  at 
all  of  the  joint  debates. 

Vast  audiences  greeted  the  two  everywhere,  and  by  the  close  of 
the  campaign,  which  was  in  Asheville,  Mr.  Craig  had  begun  to  feel 
the  strain,  and  well  wishing  friends  had  prepared  for  him,  instead  of 
the  customary  glass  of  water  on  the  rostrum  table,  a  glass  of  crystal 
"Mountain  Dew,"  properly  diluted  and  sweetened!  Mr.  Craig  spoke 
first,  and  did  not  feel  the  need  of  this  stimulant,  but  he  was  followed 
by  Senator  Pritchard,  who  after  speaking  some  time,  saw  what  ap- 
peared to  him  to  be  a  glass  of  clear  spring  water,  and  drank  the  whole 
contents,  much  to  the  amusement  of  those  who  knew,  as  it  was  a  well 
known  fact  that  the  Senator  was  a  teetotler.  However,  he  seemed  to 
enjoy  the  refreshment,  and  was  afterwards  frequently  known  to  com- 
ment on  the  excellence  of  Asheville  water! 

Mr.  Craig  and  Senator  Pritchard  (afterwards  Judge  Pritchard  of 
the  United  States  Court  of  Appeals)  were  always  the  best  of  friends 
during  and  after  this  debate.  Their  friendship  felt  no  reaction  in  spite 
of  the  heated  strife  often  reached  between  their  respective  adherents. 

After  the  death  of  Judge  Pritchard,  a  few  years  ago,  Ex-Governor 
Craig,  at  the  invitation  of  the  family,  pronounced  a  eulogy  on  the  late 
Judge  and  Senator,  at  the  memorial  services  before  the  United  States 
Circuit  of  Appeals,  in  which  he  spoke  most  feelingly  of  his  friendship 
for  Judge  Pritchard,  paying  a  high  tribute  to  his  personal  character 
as  a  citizen,  a  statesman,  and  a  judge.     Among  other  things  he  said: 

"Judge  Pritchard  came  from  East  Tennessee — a  blue-eyed,  curley- 
headed  boy,  without  money  or  influence,  to  work  out  his  own  fortune 
and  destiny.  The  primitive,  unharnessed  men  of  the  mountains  knew 
then  that  the  heir-apparent  to  the  throne  of  their  allegiance  had  ap- 
peared. Ever  afterwards  they  followed  and  trusted  him  as  their  friend 
and  leader." 

SPEECH  OF  HON.  LOCKE  CRAIG 

Delivered  At  Charlotte  In  Joint  Debate  With  Senator 

Pritchard  On  October  9th,  1902. 

(Mr.  Craig  spoke  one  hour  and  fifteen  minutes.  Mr.  Pritchard 
replied  in  a  speech  of  one  hour  and  twenty  minutes,  and  Mr.  Craig  had 
a  rejoinder  of  fifteen  minutes.  Mr.  Craig's  opening  speech  is  given 
below.) 

To  address  an  audience  like  this  on  questions  of  great 
moment  is  to  assume  a  serious  responsibility.  Charlotte  is 
not  only  a  centre  of  southern  industry  but  it  is  a  thought- 


72  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

germinating  centre  as  well.  When  I  look  upon  this  assembly 
of  intellectual  men  and  women  I  realize  that  today,  as  in  the 
important  epochs  of  the  past,  the  people  of  Mecklenburg  are 
a  potential  factor  in  the  building  of  the  State  and  in  the 
making  of  her  laws. 

"Equal  rights  to  all;  special  privilege  to  none,"  is  the 
axiom  of  just  government  and  the  corner  stone  of  Democratic 
faith.  While  the  truth  of  this  aphorism  is  universally  ad- 
mitted as  a  theory,  its  practical  application  in  matters  of 
government  has  been  and  is  strenuously  denied. 

The  present  condition  of  business  and  industry  is  forcing 
again  upon  the  American  people  the  question  of  tariff  tax- 
ation. The  Republican  Party  stands  today  for  the  theory  of 
protection  in  the  extreme.  The  Democratic  Party  advocates, 
as  it  always  has,  a  tariff  for  revenue  to  meet  the  expenses  of 
the  Government  honestly  and  economically  administered.  The 
Republican  Party  believes  that  the  way  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare and  happiness  of  the  people  is  to  legislate  for  the  benefit 
of  the  privileged  classes,  and  that  if  certain  privileges  be  con- 
ferred upon  the  upper  classes  so  as  to  promote  their  welfare 
the  prosperity  resulting  will  leak  down  and  finally  reach  the 
people.  The  Democratic  Party  believes  that  the  way  to  pro- 
mote the  welfare  of  all  the  people,  is  to  do  justice  to  all  peo- 
ple, to  grant  equal  rights  to  all  and  special  privileges  to  none. 

The  policy  of  the  protective  tariff  cannot  be  defended  upon 
the  principles  of  justice.  The  Government  has  a  right  to  levy 
taxes  upon  its  citizens  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  Govern- 
ment, but  if  it  go  one  step  further  and  levy  taxes  for  the 
benefit  of  any  individual  or  any  class  it  does  what  it  has  no 
right  to  do.  This  protective  policy  always  has  and  always 
will  be  exercised  in  the  interest  of  the  wealthy  and  powerful, 
and  against  the  interest  of  the  great  body  of  the  people.  It 
is  by  this  policy  that  certain  sections  of  the  Union  have  grown 
rich  and  that  the  South  has  been  kept  poor. 

North  Carolina  is  mostly  an  agricultural  State.  The  pro- 
duction of  cotton,  corn  and  wheat  is  her  principal  industry. 
These  articles  cannot  be  protected  as  their  price  is  determined, 
not  in  the  home  protected  market,  but  in  the  markets  of  the 
world.    No  amount  of  tariff  on  corn,  wheat  or  cotton  can  pos- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  73 

sibly  do  North  Carolina  any  good,  because  the  market  value 
of  these  articles  is  fixed,  not  at  home,  but  abroad.  So  it  is 
with  all  the  staple  products  of  the  South.  Nearly  all  of  that 
which  the  South  sells,  she  sells  in  the  open  free  trade  market ; 
and  most  of  the  articles  she  buys  she  is  forced  to  buy  in  the 
protected  market  of  monopoly.  To  demonstrate  that  the  Re- 
publican policy  of  protection  has  not  added  to  the  value  of 
the  staple  crops  of  the  South,  I  cite  the  fact  that  in  1898, 
under  the  high  tariff  of  the  Dingley  Bill,  corn,  wheat  and 
cotton  reached  their  lowest  value.  Corn  was  28  cents  a  bushel, 
wheat  58  cents,  hay  $6.00  a  ton,  cotton  4V&  cents  a  pound. 

Senator  Pritchard  talks  about  an  imaginary  trade  that 
Senator  Simmons  made  with  a  New  England  manufacturer 
whereby  Senator  Simmons  promised  to  put  lumber  on  the 
free  list  for  the  benefit  of  the  New  Englander  in  consideration 
of  the  New  Englander's  voting  the  Democratic  ticket.  That 
is  all  in  Senator  Pritchard's  imagination.  But  what  trade 
has  been  actually  made  by  Senator  Pritchard  and  his  party? 
The  people  of  North  Carolina  buy  their  clothing,  their  farm- 
ing utensils,  and  nearly  all  of  their  manufactured  articles 
from  the  Middle  and  New  England  States.  The  price  of  these 
is  increased  from  25  to  100  per  cent  by  the  Dingley  Bill.  For 
these  articles  we  pay  these  northern  manufacturers  the  full 
market  price  plus  a  bonus  of  millions  of  dollars  every  year 
and  they  buy  from  us  the  products  of  our  farms  at  a  price 
fixed  in  the  open  market. 

The  Senator  and  his  party  have  given  them  protection  on 
all  of  the  valuable  necessities  of  life  and  in  return  he  boasts 
of  the  protection  on  scrap  mica  and  chicken  roosters.  The 
Senator  claims  that  the  Dingley  Bill  has  increased  the  price 
of  our  lumber,  but  his  argument  on  this  proves  too  much.  The 
tariff  on  lumber  is  $2.00  per  thousand  and  since  1894  the  price 
of  lumber  has  increased  many  times  that  amount  per  thousand. 
The  tariff  of  $2.00  could  only  raise  the  price  $2.00  for  as  soon 
as  the  price  rises  above  $2.00  it  floats  over  the  tariff  wall  and 
mingles  and  competes  with  the  price  in  the  outside  world.  But 
lumber  is  like  most  of  the  other  southern  products.  Its  value 
is  fixed  in  the  markets  abroad  and  its  price  is  regulated  by 
the  demand.    All  of  our  valuable  lumber  is  exported  and  com- 


74  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

petes  with  the  lumber  of  the  world  in  the  markets  of  London 
and  Berlin.  I  admit  that  the  tariff  does  have  a  tendency  to 
raise  the  price  of  mica,  but  I  submit  that  the  whole  govern- 
ment policy  ought  not  to  be  based  upon  the  workings  of  a  few 
little  mica  mines  in  Mitchell  County.  I  would  like  to  see  these 
miners  prosper  but  I  am  not  willing  for  the  Southern  people 
to  pay  millions  of  dollars  on  account  of  the  tariff  to  the  nor- 
thern manufacturers  and  in  return  get  a  few  hundred  dollars 
benefit  on  account  of  the  tariff  on  mica. 

The  future  development  of  North  Carolina  is  dependent 
largely  upon  cotton  growing  and  cotton  spinning.  In  1900  the 
cotton  crop  of  North  Carolina  was  worth  more  than  twenty 
million  dollars  and  there  are  250  cotton  mills  in  North  Car- 
olina that  cost  $33,632,080.  In  the  manufacture  of  cotton 
this  State  is  advancing  more  rapidly  than  any  State  in  the 
Union.  This  is  the  pride  of  North  Carolina  and  Charlotte  is 
the  nucleus  of  this  great  and  growing  industry.  This  after- 
noon I  rode  along  the  east  of  your  city  and  looked  upon  this 
metropolis  of  enterprise.  Here  and  there  were  the  tall  smoke 
stacks  of  the  cotton  mills,  the  mainspring  of  the  commercial 
life  of  this  city  and  section.  Surely  the  builders  of  these  cot- 
ton mills  ought  to  be  encouraged.  They  give  employment  to 
people  and  capital;  they  benefit  the  farmer  by  increasing  the 
price  of  his  cotton;  they  add  wealth  and  population  to  the 
State;  they  are  building  our  cities;  they  have  changed  Char- 
lotte from  a  provincial  town  to  the  leading  commercial  and 
industrial  city  of  the  State.  The  party  or  law  that  throws  an 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  development  of  our  cotton  mill  in- 
dustry is  a  public  enemy.  The  men  whose  capital  and  whose 
energy  are  building  these  mills  are  the  benefactors  of  the 
State.  They  ought  to  be  encouraged  and  this  great  southern 
industry  now  fairly  beginning  is  entitled  to  consideration. 
The  Republican  Party  by  its  tariff  schedule  has  done  all  that 
it  could  to  cripple  this  industry.  Seventy-five  per  cent  of  the 
cost  of  a  cotton  mill  is  for  machinery;  of  a  two  hundred 
thousand  dollar  mill  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  is 
for  machinery.  On  this  machinery  there  is  a  tariff  tax  of 
from  forty  to  forty-five  per  cent — sixty  thousand  dollars  ap- 
proximately.   Before  our  enterprising  man  can  build  a  factory 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  75 

and  turn  a  wheel  in  Charlotte  he  must  pay  sixty  thousand 
dollars  to  some  northern  syndicate  for  the  privilege.  Sixty 
thousand  dollars  taken  from  the  industry  of  this  section  and 
given  as  a  bonus  to  some  syndicate  in  Pennsylvania  or  New 
England ! 

The  County  of  Mecklenburg  in  this  way  has  lost  more 
than  a  million  dollars — more  than  a  million  dollars  earned  by 
the  industry  and  energy  of  her  people  gone  forever  and  with- 
out any  compensation.  In  this  way,  on  cotton  mill  machinery 
alone  North  Carolina  has  been  forced  to  pay  more  than  ten 
million  dollars  as  a  bonus  to  northern  syndicates.  This  ten 
million  dollars  our  people  have  earned  and  others  have  gotten 
it  by  unjust  laws  without  consideration,  and  yet  the  Repub- 
lican Party  pretends  to  be  the  friend  of  enterprise  in  the 
South.  Whenever  we  build  a  new  cotton  mill  or  buy  a  new 
machine  this  process  of  extortion  goes  on.  It  is  not  strange 
that  the  mill  business  is  not  in  a  flourishing  condition.  The 
wonder  is  that  it  has  done  as  well  as  it  has.  While  this  great 
wrong  is  perpetrated  on  the  people  of  the  South  we  may  ex- 
pect mills  to  close  down  as  they  have  done.  It  is  not  strange 
that  "progress  halts  on  palsied  feet." 

The  tariff  affects  agriculture  as  it  has  the  manufacture 
of  cotton.  On  all  the  farming  utensils  and  on  most  of  the 
necessities  of  life  that  the  farmer  has  to  buy  he  must  pay  a 
bonus  from  25  to  100  per  cent.  As  the  great  body  of  our  peo- 
ple are  engaged  in  agriculture  the  bounty  that  the  farmers 
pay  to  the  protected  interest  of  the  North  amounts  to  im- 
measurably more  than  the  cotton  mill  men  pay.  It  is  this 
policy  that  for  thirty-five  years  has  impoverished  the  South 
while  the  North  has  made  millions  by  keeping  the  farmer 
poor.  It  is  a  policy  that  will  always  be  enforced  as  long  as 
the  Republican  Party  controls  the  Government.  That  party 
was  born  to  hatred  of  the  South  and  its  whole  policy  has  been 
to  the  ruin  of  the  South.  The  only  hope  that  the  southern 
farmer  and  the  southern  manufacturer  has  is  the  restoration 
to  power  of  the  Democratic  Party,  the  party  of  the  people 
and  of  the  whole  Union;  the  special  friend  of  no  section  and 
no  class,  but  the  party  that  would  administer  even  handed 


76  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

justice  and  righteous  laws  to  all  the  people  in  every  section 
of  the  Union. 

Senator  Pritchard  and  the  Republican  Party  claim  that 
the  Republican  administration  and  Republican  laws  have 
brought  to  us  prosperity.  They  say  that  in  1892  times  were 
good,  that  during  the  Democratic  administration  under  Cleve- 
land times  were  hard  and  that  prosperity  came  again  with 
the  restoration  to  power  of  the  Republican  Party.  The  basic 
assumption  of  their  argument  is  that  times  were  good  in  1892 
and  '93.  This  is  not  a  fact.  In  1892  our  financial  system  was 
in  unsound  condition  and  industry  was  demoralized.  As  an 
evidence  of  this  fact  Cleveland's  administration  borrowed  six 
hunderd  and  sixty-two  millions  of  dollars,  but  borrowed  this 
money  by  selling  bonds  printed  upon  plates  prepared  by  Fos- 
ter, Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  President  Harrison. 
Senator  Pritchard  says  that  Foster  knew  that  the  Democrats 
were  going  to  borrow  money  and  that  he  had  the  plates  pre- 
pared because  he  was  a  political  prophet.  It  does  not  take 
any  political  prophet  to  know  that  it  is  and  always  will  be 
necessary  for  the  Democrats  to  borrow  money  after  the  Re- 
publicans have  had  a  chance  at  the  treasury;  it  does  not  take 
a  prophet  nor  the  son  of  a  prophet  to  know  that  when  they 
have  their  hands  on  the  public  funds  either  State  or  National 
and  are  driven  out  of  office  they  take  all  with  them  and  leave 
nothing  behind.  It  was  necessary  to  borrow  this  money  be- 
cause of  the  unsound  condition  of  our  finances,  a  condition 
created  by  thirty  years  of  Republican  profligacy  and  misrule. 
As  a  further  evidence  of  the  fact  that  times  were  hard  in 
1892  we  must  remember  that  it  was  then  the  Populist  Party 
was  organized.  This  was  a  protest,  though  an  unwise  protest, 
against  the  unjust  laws  that  then  bore  heavily  on  the  farm- 
ing people.  We  were  entering  the  panic  which  reached  the 
crisis  in  1893.  Baring  Bros.,  of  London,  failed  in  1890,  which 
was  the  beginning  of  this  era  of  financial  depression;  in  1893 
and  1894  we  were  suffering  from  the  disease  with  which  the 
body  politic  was  afflicted  long  before  the  election  of  Cleveland. 
From  1893  and  after  the  passage  of  the  Wilson  Tariff  Bill 
times  began  to  improve.  The  condition  of  the  people  got 
better.     These  are  facts  of  history  even  now  fresh  in  the 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  77 

memory  of  everyone  and  it  is  small  politics  to  assume  the 
contrary. 

I  have  already  attempted  to  show  how  the  Dingley  Bill 
cannot  bring  prosperity  to  us.  To  take  from  a  man  or  an 
industry  from  25  to  100  per  cent  of  his  just  earnings  certainly 
does  not  tend  to  make  him  prosperous.  The  Republicans  can- 
not claim  with  any  show  of  reason  that  the  Dingley  Bill 
brought  prosperity  to  this  country  for  the  same  prosperity 
we  have  is  world  wide.  They  are  enjoying  it  in  England, 
Germany,  France  and  Japan.  Senator  Pritchard  would  hardly 
claim  that  the  tariff  on  mica  has  brought  prosperity  to  the 
empires  of  the  world.  His  argument  is  based  upon  the  old 
fallacy,  "post  hoc  ergo  procter  hoc."  Whatever  prosperity  we 
have  has  come  in  spite  of  the  Dingley  Bill.  Whatever  pros- 
perity our  people  have  had  comes  to  them  by  unremitting 
toil  and  by  hard  work  of  muscle  and  brain.  If  our  farmers 
have  prosperity  it  is  because  they  have  gone  out  in  the  early 
morning  and  worked  hard  all  day  and  dug  it  out  of  the  ground ; 
it  has  not  come  to  them  by  the  Dingley  Bill.  At  half  past  four 
in  the  morning  at  my  home  in  Asheville  I  hear  the  long,  loud, 
hoarse  whistle  of  the  cotton  mill,  and  when  I  inquire  why  it 
blows  so  long  and  so  loud  they  tell  me  that  little  children 
must  be  awakened  out  of  their  beds  that  they  may  go  to  the 
mill  while  it  is  yet  dark  and  work  for  weary,  weary  hours 
until  it  is  dark  again.  They  do  this  to  accumulate  a  little 
money  to  buy  clothes  and  school  books  when  school  opens. 
It  is  by  work  like  this  that  the  poor  people  make  a  living  for 
themselves  and  their  families. 

Man  has  not  only  worked  with  his  muscle  but  he  has 
worked  with  his  brain.  He  has  looked  into  the  recesses  of 
nature  and  there  discovered  her  mysterious  forces.  He  has 
harnessed  the  steam  to  his  trains  and  drives  them  across  the 
country  with  a  speed  faster  than  that  of  the  fastest  race 
horse.  He  looked  into  the  clouds  and  saw  the  lightning  and 
bridled  it  and  harnessed  it  and  drives  it  like  a  docile  animal, 
and  when  it  springs  from  the  dynamo  instead  of  the  rattle  of 
the  terrifying  thunder  we  hear  the  song  of  a  thousand  looms 
and  the  music  of  ten  thousand  spindles.  Steam  and  electricity 
have  taken  the  place  of  brute  force  and  the  machine  performs 


78  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

all  the  delicate  functions  of  human  hands.  Man  by  his  work 
and  genius  has  created  wealth  and  in  thousand  fold  abundance. 
Yes,  I  will  admit  that  prosperity  has  come — I  will  admit  that 
it  has  come  to  the  men  to  whom  the  city  of  Charlotte  has 
paid  more  than  a  million  dollars  in  bounty.  I  will  admit  that 
it  has  come  to  the  syndicates  and  trust  magnates  of  the 
world;  it  has  come  to  those  who  "toil  not,  neither  do  they 
spin,"  but  it  has  not  come  to  the  people  as  it  ought  to  have 
come. 

The  American  people  are  the  most  industrious  people  of 
the  world  and  the  smartest  people.  We  have  in  America  a 
conservative,  hardworking  citizenship.  They  do  not  owe  the 
Republican  Party  for  what  they  have  earned  by  their  muscle 
and  by  their  brain,  and  yet  they  tell  us  that  if  the  working- 
man  can  start  out  early  in  the  morning  with  a  bucket  full  of 
coarse  food  and  work  hard  all  day  and  every  day  that  he  may 
make  an  humble  living  for  his  family,  he  must  come  back 
home  at  night  and  fall  upon  his  knees  and  thank  Mark  Hanna 
and  the  Dingley  Bill  for  the  great  prosperity  that  he  enjoys. 

Perhaps  you  have  heard  the  story  of  the  little  fellow  who 
carried  his  father's  corn  to  the  mill  for  the  first  time.  He 
didn't  know  anything  about  the  management  of  the  mill  and 
pretty  soon  he  saw  the  miller  come  and  dip  his  toll  dish  deep 
into  the  sack  and  pour  his  toll  into  the  bin.  Then  he  poured 
the  corn  into  the  hopper,  shaking  out  every  grain.  The  little 
fellow  was  looking  on  in  wide-eyed  astonishment  and  when 
the  miller  dropped  the  sack  the  little  fellow  grabbed  it  and 
bolted  out  of  the  door,  he  ran  home  as  fast  as  he  could,  the 
miller  after  him.  The  little  fellow  was  fleet  of  foot  and  outran 
the  miller  and  got  home  and  fell  exhausted  into  the  arms  of 
his  father,  who  inquired  what  on  earth  was  the  matter.  The 
little  fellow  replied  that  the  miller  had  stolen  the  last  grain 
of  corn  and  given  him  a  devil  of  a  race  for  the  sack  but  he 
had  managed  to  save  that. 

The  working  people  of  the  country  make  all  the  corn  and 
carry  it  to  the  mill ;  they  build  all  the  palaces  and  all  the  rail- 
roads ;  they  make  and  spin  all  of  the  cotton  and  if  they  have 
even  a  sack  left  Senator  Pritchard  tells  them  they  ought  to 
be  thankful  for  that;  that  this  is  prosperity  and  that  they 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  79 

are  enjoying  this  prosperity  because  he  had  the  tariff  put  on 
mica  and  chicken  roosters. 

The  Republican  Party  stands  for  the  policies  that  prevent 
an  industrial  upbuilding  of  the  South  as  a  section,  and  the 
deserved  prosperity  of  the  people,  and  it  also  stands  against 
the  great  body  of  her  people.  It  stands  for  monopoly  and  the 
trusts.  Any  man  or  corporation  engaged  in  legitimate  enter- 
prise should  have  the  protection  and  encouragement  of  the 
laws  and  receive  just  treatment.  An  individual  or  corporation, 
rich  or  poor,  great  or  small,  weak  or  powerful,  should  be  con- 
sidered as  a  vital  part  of  the  body  politic  and  should  receive 
encouragement.  Corporations  are  agents  of  industry  and 
great  corporations  are  necessary  to  carry  on  gigantic  enter- 
prise and  for  the  full  realization  of  the  possibilities  of  this 
progressive  age.  They  are  creatures  of  state  and  should  be 
the  agents  of  progress,  but  when  a  corporation  has  grown  to 
such  proportions  that  it  will  not  tolerate  competition,  when 
it  is  no  longer  a  legitimate  enterprise,  when  it  has  for  its 
aim  the  destruction  of  all  enterprise  and  the  paralysis  of  in- 
dustry that  it  may  for  its  own  advantages  arbitrarily  fix  the 
price  of  the  necessities  of  life,  when  in  the  enjoyment  of  crim- 
inal monopoly  it  extortions  upon  the  helpless,  the  defenseless 
and  the  poor  to  satisfy  its  greed,  the  Government  should  inter- 
fere. Such  an  organization  as  I  have  described  is  the  modern 
"trust."  These  criminals  are  protected  by  the  Republican 
Party.  There  are  about  280  of  them  in  the  United  States. 
As  shown  by  the  testimony  before  the  Industrial  Committee 
they  control  about  75  per  cent  of  the  manufactured  product 
of  the  country.  In  their  interest  the  Republican  Party  man- 
ages this  Government. 

Senator  Pritchard  has  defined  the  trust  as  a  cancer  and 
says  this  American  cancer  cannot  be  removed  from  the  body 
politic  without  causing  death.  This  is  a  humiliating  admis- 
sion for  the  Republican  Party  to  make.  After  controlling  the 
Government  for  thirty-five  years  they  admit  that  we  are 
affliced  with  an  incurable  cancer  that  is  eating  away  our  life. 
Senator  Pritchard  calls  himself  a  cancer  doctor  but  he  is  not. 
He  refuses  to  apply  the  knife  to  the  cancer.  To  show  his 
attitude  and  the  attitude  of  his  party  on  the  question  of  trusts, 


80  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

I  read  the  following  resolution  introduced  in  Congress  by  Mr. 
Richardson,  of  Tennessee: 

"That  when  it  is  shown  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  that  articles  and  com- 
modities are  manufactured  and  controlled  or  produced  in  the 
United  States  by  a  trust  or  trusts,  the  importation  of  such 
articles  and  commodities  from  foreign  countries  shall  be  free 
of  duty  until,  in  the  opinion  of  the  President  and  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  such  manufacture,  control,  or  production 
shall  have  ceased." 

This  resolution  could  not  possibly  affect  any  legitimate 
industry  in  this  country.  It  would  do  nothing  but  take  the 
production  away  from  the  criminal.  The  Republicans,  of 
course,  refused  to  consider  it.  Senator  Pritchard  says  he 
would  not  vote  for  it  to  save  Mr.  Richardson's  life.  Senator 
Pritchard  may  be  willing  to  see  Mr.  Richardson  die  for  apply- 
ing to  his  party  such  a  severe  test  that  exposes  their  hy- 
pocrisy; but  the  object  is  not  to  save  Mr.  Richardson's  life 
but  to  stop  the  extortions  of  these  criminal  organizations. 
When  this  test  is  applied  the  Republican  Senator  from  North 
Carolina  sent  there  to  represent  the  people,  the  honest  hard- 
working people  of  this  State,  when  he  is  forced  to  take  a 
stand,  at  the  dictation  of  his  party  he  stands  by  the  million- 
aire combines  and  against  his  own  people  whose  interest  he 
should  protect.  We  will  repudiate  the  party  and  the  senator 
that  repudiate  us  in  this  hour  of  trial  and  we  want  a  Senator 
who  will  stand  by  the  people  and  not  by  the  criminal  trusts. 

To  demonstrate  the  iniquity  of  the  trusts  I  call  your  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  they  sell  the  necessities  of  life  and 
articles  of  industry,  such  as  agricultural  implements,  cotton 
mill  machinery  and  the  like,  cheaper  to  the  foreigner  than 
they  sell  the  same  class  of  implements  to  the  home  people. 
They  have  two  sets  of  customers  and  two  sets  of  prices.  One 
set  of  customers  the  people  of  the  United  States,  the  people 
of  Mecklenburg  County;  the  other  the  foreigners  that  the 
Republican  Party  has  always  pretended  to  protect  us  against. 
Yet  the  trust  under  the  protection  of  the  Dingley  Bill  charges 
the  American  farmer  and  the  American  mill  man  from  25  to 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  81 

100  per  cent  more  for  the  same  class  of  articles  than  it  charges 
the  foreigner. 

The  Democrats  in  Congress  propose  to  stop  that.  Here  is 
another  resolution  introduced  and  supported  by  the  Demo- 
crats. 

"That  when  it  is  shown  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  that  any  article  or  com- 
modity which  is  manufactured  in  the  United  States  is  sold  in 
a  foreign  country  more  cheaply  than  the  price  at  which  the 
same  article  or  commodity  is  sold  in  the  United  States,  the 
rate  of  duty  on  such  article  or  commodity  shall  be  reduced 
by  the  President  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  50  per  cent 
of  the  present  rate,  or  to  such  extent  as  to  prevent  the  con- 
tinuance of  such  irregularity  and  injustice,  and  remove  the 
indirect  tariff  bounty  which  promotes  the  same." 

The  Republicans  refuse  not  only  to  protect  the  American 
people  but  refuse  to  allow  anyone  else  to  withhold  the  hand 
of  the  sandbaggar  and  the  robber.  They  would  not  allow  this 
resolution  which  appeals  to  the  justice  and  fairness  of  every 
man  to  become  the  law.  This  protection  of  the  trusts  by  the 
law  is  so  notoriously  wrong  that  the  Republican  Convention 
in  the  great  Agricultural  State  of  Iowa  has  declared  against 
it  and  for  the  Democratic  position.  Mr.  Babcock,  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Republican  Congressional  Committee,  has  declared 
that  this  protection  of  the  trusts  cannot  be  defended.  Sec- 
retary Shaw  admits  that  it  is  wrong  and  the  Rough  Rider 
who  charged  with  waving  sword  up  the  bloody,  storm-swept 
heights  of  San  Juan  could  not  face  the  storm  of  opposition  to 
this  policy  that  is  rising  in  the  great  Northwest.  He  started 
to  the  State  of  Iowa  and  the  Northwest  but  hurt  his  leg  and 
had  to  come  back.  He  now  says  that  the  tariff  ought  to  be 
readjusted.  The  people  say  so  but  Senator  Pritchard  says 
not  an  "i"  shall  be  dotted  nor  a  "t"  crossed  in  this  Tariff 
Bill.  He  is  like  the  boy  who  "stood  on  the  burning  deck 
whence  all  but  him  had  fled."    Brave  Senator. 

The  tariff  policy  of  the  Republican  Party  discriminates 
against  the  Southern  people  and  in  favor  of  trusts  and  syn- 
dicates at  home  and  tends  to  prevent  the  legitimate  expansion 


82  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

of  our  trade  abroad.  If  we  prohibit  foreign  nations  from 
trading  with  us,  they  will  be  more  inclined  to  prohibit  our 
trade  from  entering  their  ports,  if  we  refuse  to  neighbor  with 
them,  they  will  not  feel  as  friendly  to  us.  Our  trade  with 
other  nations  cannot  continue  to  increase  unless  we  exchange 
with  them.  It  is  upon  this  foreign  trade  that  the  price  of 
our  manufactured  cotton  goods  depends  and  this  trade  must 
be  procured  by  peace — not  by  war. 

The  Philippine  War  is  the  most  stupendous  blunder  of  the 
ages.  Manila  is  not  the  gateway  to  the  Orient,  it  is  five 
hundred  miles  out  of  the  current  of  trans-oceanic  commerce. 
Nor  is  it  necessary  to  own  a  country  in  order  to  trade  with  it, 
that  was  the  medieval  idea,  but  not  the  custom  of  modern 
civilization.  In  the  attempt  to  conquer  these  islands  we  have 
already  expended,  according  to  Senator  Hoar,  the  greatest 
living  Republican  statesman,  and  according  to  Edward  Atkin- 
son, the  great  statistician,  more  than  six  hundred  million  dol- 
lars. Our  trade  with  the  Philippine  Islands  will  never  be 
worth  the  interest  on  this  vast  sum  of  money.  Ten  thousand 
American  boys  have  been  sacrificed,  the  life  of  each  one  is 
worth  more  than  all  that  trade.  A  mother  in  Asheville  re- 
ceived a  telegram  announcing  the  death  of  her  child,  after 
this  came  letters  day  after  day  from  the  dead  boy  written 
while  he  was  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  life — voices  from  the 
grave.  You  cannot  justify  this  war,  you  cannot  defend  its 
cruelties.    In  the  language  of  Senator  Hoar: 

"We  repealed  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  We 
changed  the  Monroe  Doctrine  from  a  doctrine  of  eternal 
righteousness  and  justice,  resting  on  the  consent  of  the  gov- 
erned, to  a  doctrine  of  brutal  selfishness,  looking  only  to  our 
own  advantage.  We  crushed  the  only  republic  in  Asia.  We 
made  war  on  the  only  Christian  people  in  the  East.  We  con- 
verted a  war  of  glory  to  a  war  of  shame.  We  vulgarized  the 
American  flag.  We  introduced  perfidy  into  the  practice  of 
war.  We  inflicted  torture  on  unarmed  men  to  extort  con- 
fession. We  put  children  to  death.  We  established  recon- 
centrado  camps.  We  devastated  provinces.  We  baffled  the 
aspirations  of  a  people  for  liberty." 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  83 

And  yet  there  is  no  peace.  Let  this  Government  proclaim 
that  we  will  treat  these  islands  as  we  did  Cuba  and  peace  will 
come  at  once,  and  it  will  not  come  until  then.  We,  today,  con- 
trol only  so  much  of  that  territory  as  is  held  by  the  Army  of 
Occupation.  You  may  establish  your  law  by  the  policy  you 
are  pursuing,  but  it  will  be  the  law  of  Torquemada  in  Aragon, 
the  rule  that  the  Duke  of  Alva  established  in  the  Netherlands. 
You  may  make  that  land  a  desolation  and  call  it  peace,  but  it 
will  be  "the  peace  that  reigned  in  Warsaw." 

We  believe  in  the  expansion  of  trade,  we  need  the  trade 
of  China  and  Japan  and  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Give 
the  expansive  energy  of  the  American  people  an  opportunity 
and  it  will  establish  the  empire  of  our  commerce  all  over  the 
world.  The  flag  of  the  Republic  should  float  on  every  sea  as 
an  emblem  of  universal  emancipation,  the  ensign  of  a  world 
power  whose  supremacy  in  arts  and  commerce  is  acknowledged 
by  all  the  nations.  The  policy  of  the  Democratic  Party  would 
stop  this  inglorious  war  and  bring  peace  with  honor  and  ex- 
panding commerce.  Everywhere  else  on  the  earth  has  the 
sound  of  war  died  away.  I  say  Amen  to  the  prayer  of  the 
great  old  Roman  Pontiff  when  he  asked  that  his  eyes  might 
Close  on  worldwide  peace.  "Oh,  let  the  bugles  sound  the  truce 
of  God  to  the  whole  world  forever."  Let  the  iron  band  of 
selfishness  and  force  and  war  with  which  Republicanism  has 
bound  the  earth  give  place  to  the  golden  Cestus  of  peace  that 
shall  encircle  the  world  and  enlighten  and  bless  the  children 
of  men. 

In  North  Carolina  we  are  in  the  morning  of,  I  trust,  a 
brighter  and  a  grander  day,  a  day  of  liberty  of  thought  and 
speech — full  of  hope.  This  is  so  because  two  years  ago  over 
all  opposition  our  Anglo-Saxon  manhood  declared  it  as  a  part 
of  our  Constitution,  wrote  it  there  as  an  everlasting  covenant, 
an  immutable  decree  that  never  again  should  this  great  State 
be  cursed  with  the  damnation  of  negro  domination.  Yes,  the 
people  are  free  to  think  as  they  please  and  vote  as  they  please, 


84  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

but  who  brought  about  this  freedom  and  who  exhausted  all 
their  energy  to  hold  us  in  bondage? 


The  Amendment  has  been  adopted;  it  is  now  the  law,  and 
not  a  single  native-born  white  man  has  been  disfranchised. 
You  say  that  some  have  been  disfranchised  by  failure  to  pay 
the  poll  tax;  not  so.  Some  have  failed  to  qualify  themselves 
to  vote  at  the  next  election,  but  they  are  not  permanently  dis- 
franchised. If  an  able-bodied  man  under  fifty  years  of  age 
will  not  willingly  contribute  two  dollars  toward  the  expense 
of  this  great  Government,  whose  protection  and  privileges  he 
enjoys  to  the  full  extent,  he  ought  not  to  expect  to  participate 
in  the  making  and  administering  of  the  laws.  Senator 
Pritchard  says  there  are  thirty  thousand  of  these  men.  Thirty 
thousand  able-bodied  men  in  North  Carolina  unable  to  raise 
two  dollars  after  two  years'  notice!  Thirty  thousand  able- 
bodied  paupers  in  this  State !  In  this  era  of  great  prosperity ! 
Senator  Pritchard  ought  to  repudiate  this  statement  or  hush 
his  prosperity  argument. 

But  now  he  tells  us  that  the  boys  who  come  of  age  after 
1908  will  be  disfranchised;  this  might  be  the  case  were  the 
Republicans  to  control  the  State.  Dr.  Curry  said  that  in  1895 
and  1897  they  set  back  the  cause  of  education  twenty-five 
years  in  North  Carolina.  In  1868  and  1869  we  had  a  large 
school  fund,  it  could  not  be  used  as  it  was  collected,  for  the 
boys  were  in  the  army;  it  had  been  accumulated  there  under 
the  honest  administration  of  our  great  War  Governor.  When 
the  Republicans  came  into  power  they  laid  their  unholy  hands 
upon  this  sacred  fund  and  stole  and  squandered  it.  By  this 
great  crime  many  a  good  man  in  North  Carolina  is  now  with- 
out an  education — we  will  never  trust  them  again.  The  Demo- 
cratic Party  will  guarantee  to  every  boy  in  North  Carolina 
the  opportunities  of  an  education. 

For  two  years  the  Democratic  Party  has  been  in  power; 
the  Republicans  say  that  we  have  spent  too  much  money.  How 
have  we  spent  it?  Three  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  debts 
created  by  their  profligacy  and  theft,  one  of  the  thieves  is 
now  in  the  penitentiary.    Yes,  we  spent  more  money,  but  taxes 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  85 

have  not  been  increased.  They  complain  that  we  raised  the 
Governor's  salary  a  thousand  dollars  a  year,  Governor  Russell 
recommended  that,  but  if  we  could  trade  off  Governor  Russell 
every  day  for  a  chivalrous,  high-minded  Aycock,  the  friend  of 
the  people,  the  apostle  of  education,  we  would  have  a  pros- 
perity greater  than  that  of  the  Dingley  Bill.  Yes,  we  spent 
more  money,  and  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  went  to  edu- 
cate the  children  of  the  State.  They  complain  that  we  spent 
the  money,  yet  they  are  ashamed  to  complain  of  the  manner 
in  which  we  have  spent  it.  We  regard  not  their  complaints. 
The  people  of  North  Carolina  endorsed  the  appropriation  of 
this  money.  Yes,  we  spent  more  money,  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  went  to  pension  the  Confederate  soldiers.  We  will 
take  care  of  these  old  veterans,  we  owe  them  a  debt  of  grati- 
tude. In  the  wreck  and  ruin  of  war  we  were  rich  in  the 
priceless  heritage  of  their  memory. 

"They  were  men  whom  death  could  not  terrify,  whom  de- 
feat could  not  dishonor."  They  glorified  the  fallen  cause  by 
the  simple  manhood  of  their  lives  and  by  the  heroism  of  their 
death.  They  have  cast  over  the  South  the  glamour  of  an 
immortal  chivalry  and  consecrated  the  cause  of  Dixie  with  the 
blood  of  an  immortal  sacrifice.  It  was  devotion  like  this  that 
made  the  South,  though  torn  and  bleeding,  beautiful  and 
splendid  in  her  desolation,  and  in  her  woe.  For  forty  years 
they  have  been  the  builders  of  the  New  South  and  the  pro- 
jectors of  her  larger  destiny.  The  Federal  Government  pro- 
vides for  the  soldiers  that  followed  its  flag.  That  is  right. 
We  will  provide  for  the  soldiers  of  the  armies  of  the  "storm- 
cradled  nation  that  fell."  When  Senator  Pritchard  was  a 
member  of  the  Legislature  in  1895  he  and  his  party  voted 
against  giving  one  cent  of  pension  to  the  needy  heroes  that 
had  hobbled  home  on  crutches  from  Appomatox. 

There  is  one  class  of  men  whom  we  do  not  believe  in  pen- 
sioning— the  deserter.  There  are  men  here  who  remember  the 
last  two  years  of  the  war.  The  world  was  against  us.  Armies 
were  crashing  down  upon  us  like  a  ring  of  fire.  Sherman  was 
marching  to  the  sea  and  leaving  behind  him  ashes  and  deso- 
lation.    In  that  time  there  were  men  whose  courage  never 


86  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

faltered.  Ragged  and  hungry  and  bleeding  they  stood  in  the 
trenches  around  Richmond  and  Petersburg.  They  stood  with 
an  unfailing  devotion,  though  sometimes  they  knew  that  their 
wives  and  little  ones  at  home  were  living  on  the  corn  they 
picked  up  from  the  wagon  ruts  of  the  invading  armies.  They 
died  remembering  Dixie  like  the  Greeks  remembering  Argos — 
in  the  language  of  the  old  song:  "While  one  kissed  a  ringlet 
of  thin  gray  hair  and  one  kissed  a  lock  of  brown." 

But  there  were  some  who  did  not  stand.  Traitors  and  de- 
serters they  were.  They  turned  their  backs  upon  the  only 
home  and  country  that  they  ever  had.  They  sneaked  through 
the  lines.  They  threw  away  the  old  gray  uniform  and  put  on 
the  blue.  They  came  back  to  shoot  and  kill,  to  rob  the  de- 
fenseless wives  and  mothers  of  their  comrades  who  were  fight- 
ing and  dying  at  the  front ;  to  burn  their  homes  and  to  mur- 
der the  innocent.  To  these  men  Senator  Pritchard  has  given 
a  royal  pension.  He  said  to  the  hero  of  the  Confederacy  that 
he  might  starve,  but  with  the  money  of  the  honest  people  he 
feeds  and  clothes  the  deserter.  Yes,  I  denounce  this  in  the 
name  of  the  forty  thousand  sons  of  North  Carolina  who  sleep 
tonight  beneath  the  sod  in  the  battle-scarred  bosom  of  old 
Virginia.  I  denounce  it  in  the  name  of  the  men  who  rushed 
defiant  of  death  through  the  storm  of  Chickamauga  and 
Gettysburg.  In  the  name  of  every  Confederate  soldier  I  de- 
nounce it.  In  memory  of  the  women  who  were  robbed  and 
the  men  who  were  murdered  I  denounce  it.  In  the  name  of 
all  brave  men  who  love  courage  and  despise  cowardice,  who 
believe  in  fidelity  to  comrades  and  in  love  for  home  and  in 
loyalty  to  a  great  cause,  I  denounce  this  infamous  act.  I  do 
not  stand  alone.  Here  is  the  resolution  of  the  last  Reunion  of 
Confederate  Veterans  of  North  Carolina: 

"Resolved,  That  we  condemn  and  denounce  the  Act  of  Con- 
gress which  rewards  treachery  and  perfidy  by  giving  pensions 
to  Confederate  deserters  for  fighting  against  their  former  flag 
and  comrades." 

That  resolution  was  unanimously  and  enthusiastically 
adopted.  Senator  Pritchard  has  eulogized  General  Carr  as  a 
Confederate  soldier.     The  resolution  is  what  he  said  for  he 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  87 

was  there  in  command.  He  has  eulogized  Cy  Watson  as  a 
Confederate  soldier.  Cy  Watson  said  at  Henderson  that  he 
hoped  that  the  last  man  who  wore  the  gray  would  die  and  be 
buried  and  be  forgotten  before  the  South  forgave  the  men  who 
rewarded  the  traitors  and  deserters  of  the  lost  cause.  The 
judgment  of  the  South  is  that  the  party  that  starves  the  sol- 
dier and  pensions  the  deserter  should  be  accursed  forever. 

We  provided  for  the  institutions  of  charity.  The  humanity 
of  the  people  demands  this,  although  the  Republican  Party 
objected.  We  provided  for  the  necessities  of  the  University 
and  the  State  Schools.  The  Republicans  would  take  from  the 
soldier  his  pension,  withhold  the  blessed  gifts  of  charity  from 
the  unfortunate,  and  cripple  our  institutions  of  learning.  The 
Democrats  have  appropriated  this  money  honestly,  and,  I  be- 
lieve, wisely.  We  defy  them  to  show  where  a  single  dollar 
has  been  dishonestly  applied.  The  present  Democratic  admin- 
istration, as  all  preceding  ones,  is  honest  and  above  reproach, 
while  every  Republican  administration  has  brought  shame 
upon  the  State  and  left  every  Department  of  the  Government 
reeking  with  scandal. 

Turn  over  this  State  to  the  crowd  that  has  polluted  it,  that 
has  humiliated  our  people?  Never  again  in  this  generation! 
We  read  in  the  Good  Book  that  in  olden  times  the  Children  of 
Israel  were  in  the  house  of  bondage  and  toiling  under  the  lash 
of  Egyptian  task  masters.  And  Moses  came  to  them  and 
spoke  to  them  and  told  them  to  gird  their  loins  and  get  away 
from  this  land  of  Egypt  and  out  of  this  house  of  bondage,  and 
to  go  to  their  own  land  and  take  it.  The  Children  of  Israel 
heard  him,  and  though  the  Great  Sea  intervened  and  a  wil- 
derness of  storm  and  pestilence  and  earthquake,  they  obeyed 
the  voice  of  Moses  and  started  for  Canaan.  Ever  and  anon 
where  dangers  and  difficulties  beset  them  there  were  those 
who  persuaded  them  to  go  back,  but  under  the  leadership  of 
Moses  they  pressed  onward.  Moses  did  not  enter  the  promised 
land,  but  saw  it  from  afar.  The  Children  of  Israel  did  enter. 
We  have  not  journeyed  for  forty  years  through  the  wilderness, 
but  near  about  it.  In  1868,  we,  too,  were  in  the  house  of 
bondage,  and  Zeb.  Vance  came  to  us  and  spoke  to  us  and  told 


88  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

us  to  gird  our  loins  and  get  away  from  Republicanism  and 
negro  domination,  and  take  this  land  for  it  was  ours  and  the 
land  of  our  fathers.  For  thirty-five  years  we  journeyed  in 
the  wilderness,  though  federal  bayonets  opposed  us,  though 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  negroes  in  solid  phalanx 
opposed  us,  though  they  put  upon  us  a  Civil  Rights  Bill  and 
tried  to  intimidate  us  with  Force  Bills,  though  they  threatened 
us  with  Federal  Courts  and  federal  power,  and  though  every 
Republican  fought  against  the  deliverance  of  his  country,  yet 
under  the  leadership  of  Vance  we  pressed  onward. 

The  great  old  Senator  passed  away,  but  in  his  spirit  and 
under  the  leadership  of  Senator  Simmons  and  Governor  Ay- 
cock  and  their  fellows,  we  pressed  onward.  We  crossed  the 
river,  we  passed  into  the  land  of  Liberty  and  Enlightenment, 
and  we  brought  Senator  Pritchard  over  with  us,  though  we 
had  to  tie  him  hand  and  foot.  We  always  liked  him.  He 
didn't  want  to  come.  When  he  got  into  the  new  land  he 
thanked  God  that  he  had  gotten  there,  and  as  soon  as  he  got 
up  off  his  knees  he  said  he  wanted  to  be  a  ruler  in  Israel  right 
at  once. 

The  child  has  not  yet  been  born  in  North  Carolina  that  will 
see  the  day  when  the  party  that  has  degraded  our  people,  that 
has  attempted  to  perpetuate  the  political  equality  of  the  negro 
race,  will  be  restored  to  power.  The  new  day  has  dawned,  but 
the  judgment  has  been  pronounced  against  this  Republican 
Party. 

Democracy,  united,  enthusiastic  and  steadfast  in  its  pur- 
pose to  guard  the  welfare  of  all  the  people,  to  protect  North 
Carolina  from  the  hand  of  the  despoiler,  to  promote  the  up- 
building of  this  great  State,  marches  forward  with  victorious 
assurances. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  89 

THE  DEMOCRATIC  CONVENTION 

(Greensboro,  June,  1906) 

NOTE:  This  speech,  made  at  the  opening1  of  the  State  Democratic 
Convention  at  Greensboro,  was  two  years  before  Locke  Craig  was  a 
candidate  for  the  nomination  of  Governor  of  North  Carolina. 

It  is  a  high  honor  for  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  at  your  invita- 
tion, to  preside  temporarily  over  this  Convention.  The  men 
that  compose  this  assembly  represent  the  intellectuality,  the 
virtue  and  the  patriotism  of  North  Carolina.  They  stand  for 
the  policies  that  embody  the  highest  conceptions  of  justice 
and  that  conduce  to  the  attainments  of  the  loftiest  aspira- 
tions of  our  people.  Never,  in  all  our  history,  did  a  conven- 
tion meet  under  more  auspicious  circumstance.  Our  people 
are  at  peace.  The  political  status  of  the  races  has  been  de- 
termined to  the  satisfaction  of  all.  The  honest  administra- 
tion of  just  laws  guarantees  protection  to  every  citizen  and 
every  interest.  An  efficient  public  school  has  been  opened  to 
every  child  in  the  State.  The  State  Institutions  of  Learning 
are  thronged  with  eager  students  and  rank  with  the  very  best 
in  the  Union.  The  denominational  colleges  are  flourishing  as 
never  before.  Universal  education  is  the  necessary  result  of 
this  great  awakening.  The  unfortunates  have  been  remem- 
bered in  mercy;  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  have  been 
expended  to  provide  homes  for  the  insane  and  schools  for  the 
blind  and  the  deaf  and  dumb.  The  aged  and  afflicted  veterans 
of  the  Confederacy  have  not  been  forgotten.  Their  deeds  in 
victory  and  in  defeat  are  a  glory  to  the  race  and  the  priceless 
heritage  of  the  South. 

Temperance  reform  has  steadily  and  surely  progressed. 
The  sale  and  manufacture  of  liquor  in  most  of  the  towns  and 
in  the  country  districts  have  been  abolished.  The  settlement 
of  this  vexatious  question  has  been  put  upon  a  sound  and 
practicable  basis.  But  our  people  must  remember  that  it  is 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  enforce  prohibitory  laws  in  the 
larger  towns  and  cities  unless  they  be  the  expression  of  the 
will  of  the  majority,  and  unless  their  enforcement  be  de- 


90  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

manded  by  the  substantial  moral  sentiment  of  the  community. 
This  reform,  like  all  others,  to  be  effective  and  permanent, 
must  be  the  work  of  these  municipalities. 

Every  Department  of  the  State  Government  has  been 
ably  and  honestly  administered.  No  scandal  has  disgraced 
our  annals  since  the  Republicans  were  driven  from  power. 
Even  the  State  Prison,  which  for  years  was  an  incubus  and  a 
burden,  is  above  reproach,  and  is  yielding  a  handsome  profit. 

In  every  section  there  are  evidences  of  progress.  Our 
county  roads  have  been  improved  and  the  increasing  demands 
of  commerce  have  necessitated  the  construction  of  railroads. 
Diversified  industries  are  springing  up.  Above  the  roar  of  the 
cataract  and  the  bass  voice  of  the  steam  engine  there  rises 
the  song  of  multiplex  wheel  and  spindle.  The  farms  are  cul- 
tivated and  improved  by  scientific  industry.  Our  towns  are 
growing  into  cities.  I  believe  that  in  intellectual  and  ma- 
terial advancement,  in  the  brawn  and  sinew  of  moral  man- 
hood, North  Carolina  is  the  greatest  of  the  Southern  States. 

In  the  retrospect  of  the  last  decade  the  good  citizenship, 
without  regard  to  politics,  must  rejoice  that  the  party  that 
cursed  and  blighted  the  State  was  overthrown;  that  the  pol- 
icies of  the  Democratic  Party  were  enacted  into  statutes  and 
written  into  the  Constitution;  that  the  era  of  shame  and 
bitterness  has  been  followed  by  the  era  of  security  and  ad- 
vancement. 

To  maintain  their  power  our  opponents  stood  for  the  per- 
petuation of  negro  suffrage.  They  championed  the  cause  of 
whiskey.  Bar-rooms  and  still-houses  were  their  allies.  Today 
they  stand  before  us  routed,  disgraced,  demoralized,  with  pub- 
lic plunder  for  aspiration  and  Marion  Butler  for  leader. 
Verily,  the  man  and  the  occasion  have  met. 

Democracy,  with  an  unsullied  record,  with  an  unalterable 
determination  that  its  future  shall  be  worthy  of  its  past,  with 
plighted  faith  to  the  highest  upbuilding  of  the  State,  and 
with  an  exalted  conception  of  her  destiny,  enters  with  vic- 
torious assurance  the  campaign  of  1906. 

The  South  is  entering  upon  an  era  of  unprecedented  de- 
velopment and  prosperity.  The  increase  of  population  is  mul- 
tiplying the  demand  for  the  products  of  her  mines,  her  forests 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  91 

and  her  fields.  No  land  but  Dixie  can  profitably  produce  cot- 
ton, the  most  valuable  of  all  the  staples  of  agriculture.  Our 
trade  in  the  East  is  just  beginning.  As  yet  it  has  but  skirted 
the  seaboard  of  the  Orient.  The  raiment  most  adaptable  to 
the  needs  of  the  Mongolian  race  comes  from  the  cotton  fields 
of  the  South.  When  by  ingenuity  and  energy  of  our  people 
and  by  the  cultivation  of  peaceful  relations  the  products  of 
our  mills  shall  be  carried  to  the  unnumbered  millions  of  those 
vast  empires,  we  may  realize  that  Minister  Wu  knew  what 
he  was  talking  about  when  he  said  that  two  inches  added  to 
the  length  of  a  Chinaman's  shirt  would  double  the  price  of 
cotton.  With  cotton  at  ten  cents  a  pound,  and  all  indications 
are  that  the  natural  demand  will  keep  it  above  that  figure, 
the  South  is  the  most  favored  land  of  all  the  earth,  and  will 
be  the  richest  agricultural  country  of  the  world. 

The  settlement  of  one  problem  is  but  the  evolution  of  an- 
other. Having  grappled  with  the  race  problem;  having  ad- 
justed the  situation  as  near  as  we  can  to  the  eternal  law  that 
will  eventually  work  out  its  solution;  remembering  our  obli- 
gation to  the  weaker  race,  as  the  vast  amount  of  money  de- 
voted to  the  education  of  the  negro  will  testify ;  realizing  that 
the  responsibility  for  the  just  and  humane  settlement  of  this 
problem  is  ours;  that  we  are  accountable  for  the  result  to 
ourselves  and  to  our  posterity  and  not  to  others;  the  re- 
juvenated South  is  now  doing  and  will  do  a  foremost  part  in 
the  solution  of  the  social  and  economic  questions  of  the  age. 
These  questions  are  necessitated  by  our  great  industrial  de- 
velopment. 

This  is  the  age  of  material  progress.  Man's  intellect  and 
energies  are  now  devoted  to  this,  and  for  this  he  has  sum- 
moned to  his  service  the  Genii  in  whose  keeping  are  the 
treasures  of  the  earth,  and  the  limitless  forces  of  immensity. 

This  is  peculiarly  the  industrial  age.  As  other  epochs 
have  been  conspicuous  for  attainments  in  war  or  religion  or 
politics,  so  ours  is  the  era  of  industrial  accomplishment.  The 
spirit  of  victorious  enterprise  is  everywhere.  The  men  of 
power  are  not  the  captains  of  armies,  or  the  oracles  of  sen- 
ates, but  the  captains  and  organizers  of  industry.  They  are 
the  potent  factors  of  modern  life  and  create  conditions  that 


92  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

determine  the  status  of  people,  individually  and  collectively. 
It  is  the  age  of  industry  and  the  age  of  co-operative  industry. 
In  the  evolution  of  progress  we  have  passed  from  the  in- 
definite, unorganized  and  homogeneous  state  to  the  definite, 
organized  state,  in  which  each  department  of  industry  has 
been  segregated  and  performs  its  separate  functions  in  this 
great  modern  social  organism.  Co-operation  is  today  the  rule 
and  law  of  commerce  and  production.  There  is  not  a  single 
great  enterprise  operated  in  antagonism  to  or  competition 
with  another  such  enterprise.  In  defiance  of  the  common  and 
statutory  law,  both  State  and  Federal,  the  competitive  system 
has  been  destroyed,  and  the  other  built  upon  its  ruins.  Under 
the  old  order  there  developed  an  attractive  civilization,  an 
individuality,  strong  and  comprehensive.  In  the  Old  South 
each  plantation  was  a  community  within  itself.  It  was 
equipped  with  all  necessary  appliances.  The  planter  produced 
his  own  corn  and  meat.  He  had  his  carpenter  shop ;  his  black- 
smith shop ;  his  gin  house ;  his  spinning  wheels  and  his  looms. 
He  was  cultivated,  intellectual  and  knightly.  He  was  broad- 
minded  and  understood  the  policies  of  government  and  the 
duties  of  citizenship.  He  was  the  finest  type  of  manhood. 
But  in  that  state  of  society  the  gigantic  forces  of  modern 
life  would  never  develop  and  materialize.  The  saying  that 
"Competition  is  the  life  of  trade"  does  not  now  apply.  Com- 
petition sharpened  men.  It  made  them  shrewd  and  resource- 
ful. But  it  is  not  the  law  of  man's  higher  life,  either  in 
morals  or  commerce.  Co-operation  in  its  high  and  legitimate 
sense  is  the  law  of  our  highest  life,  and  it  is  the  law  of 
progress. 

The  concentration  and  control  of  vast  resources  is  essen- 
tial to  any  of  our  great  modern  industrial  institutions  and 
every  such  institution  has  inevitably  come  to  be  a  monopoly. 

Some  contend  that  monopoly  is  the  result  of  a  progressive 
business  evolution,  and  is  the  necessary  agency  to  the  cheapen- 
ing of  production  and  to  the  realization  of  the  possibilities  of 
modern  development.  Others  contend  that  it  is  a  public 
enemy — the  monstrous  offspring  of  unrighteous  law  and  un- 
fair advantage.  In  both  of  these  contentions  there  is  an  ele- 
ment of  truth.    But  monopoly  is  here.     It  is  a  reality,  and 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  93 

the  one  great  vital  absorbing  question  of  modern  life  is, 
"What  shall  we  do  with  it?"  It  is  the  question  which  the 
Sphinx  of  Destiny  asks  of  our  time.  The  answer  constitutes 
the  fundamental  difference  between  the  Democratic  and  the 
Republican  Party.  Democracy  means  that  these  monopolies 
shall  serve  and  not  rule;  Republicanism  that  they  shall  rule 
and  not  serve.  I  am  speaking  of  the  real  meaning  of  the  two 
political  organizations,  and  not  their  professions  of  faith.  To 
be  more  accurate,  the  Democratic  Party  is  that  agency 
through  which  the  people  may  expect  to  control  monopoly. 
The  Republican  Party  is  that  agency  by  which  monopoly  ex- 
pects to  exploit  the  people. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  is,  perhaps,  the  most  popular  Presi- 
dent that  the  country  ever  had,  and  all  of  his  popularity  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  he  has  advocated  policies  to  which  his 
own  party  is  deadly  opposed,  which  were  originated  by  the 
Democratic  Party,  and  clearly  announced  in  our  national 
platforms.  I  would  not  detract  from  the  President's  laurels. 
As  Democrats  we  honor  him  for  the  fact  that  by  the  irre- 
sistible force  of  public  opinion  he  coerced  the  stubborn 
leaders  of  his  party  into  the  support  of  Democratic  measures. 

Since  the  passage  of  the  Railroad  Rate  Bill,  I  assume  that 
it  is  universally  admitted  that  the  Government  should  super- 
vise and  control  the  public  service  corporations.  But  why 
should  such  control  be  limited  to  these  monopolies  ?  The  con- 
cern that  has  and  exercises  an  undisputed  monopoly  in  the 
production  of  a  necessity  of  life,  is  as  essentially  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  public,  and  a  public  necessity,  as  is  a  railway  or 
telegraph  company.  I  am  speaking  now  of  those  great  truths 
and  combinations  which  have  crushed  or  absorbed  all  oppo- 
sition and  competition,  in  whose  power  the  individual  is  help- 
less, whose  operations  are  interstate  and  international,  and 
whose  supremacy  no  rival  can  dispute. 

Meat  and  sugar,  and  oil  and  coal,  are  as  necessarily  and 
universally  used  as  freight  cars  and  railroad  tickets.  The 
actual  character  and  nature  of  the  business  and  not  its  char- 
tered privilege,  determine  the  right  and  duty  of  Government 
to  interfere  and  control. 

Under  the  old  system,  competition  was  the  regulator.  Com- 


94  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

petition  having  been  destroyed,  there  must  be  another  solu- 
tion to  the  situation.  You  can  with  impunity  trust  neither 
men  nor  corporations  with  arbitrary  power.  It  does  not  ap- 
pease the  appetite  nor  relieve  the  public  nausea  to  be  told 
that  Packing  Houses  are  not  quasi-public  corporations,  nor 
does  it  sweeten  the  coffee  or  alleviate  extortion  to  be  told 
that  the  Sugar  Trust  has  not  the  right  of  Eminent  Domain. 

The  President  of  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railway  Com- 
pany denned  the  position  of  all  monopolies  when  he  said  that 
the  public  could  pay  the  charges  demanded  by  the  railroads 
or  "it  can  walk,"  while  the  business  creed  of  the  people  is 
expressed  in  the  saying,  "live  and  let  live." 

The  evil  of  monopoly  is  not  in  its  vast  powers  for  produc- 
tion. Not  in  the  fact  that  it  can  produce  enough  for  all,  Not 
in  the  fact  that  it  has  no  competition.  Certainly  not  in  its 
power  and  capacity  to  cheapen  production.  The  evil  is  in  the 
fact  that  it  exercises  its  power  for  rapacity  and  oppression. 

You  cannot  destroy  these  great  industrial  enterprises — 
these  monopolies.  They  are  integral  elements  of  our  civiliza- 
tion itself.  They  have  been  built  up  in  accordance  with  the 
law  of  association  and  co-operation.  This  is  the  source  of 
their  vigor,  the  generative  force  of  their  growth.  I  would 
not  destroy  them.  I  would  not  disturb  the  equilibrium  of 
business.  I  would  not  impede  the  march  of  progress.  I  would 
not  mar  a  single  note  in  the  grand  symphony  of  the  music  of 
industry.  But  I  would  lay  the  all-controlling  hand  of  the 
sovereign  power  of  the  people  upon  every  monopoly  with  the 
command  that  it  must  conform  to  the  law  of  simple  justice 
to  all. 

The  present  tariff  for  the  protection  of  trusts  enables  them 
to  more  easily  "hold  up"  the  American  people.  No  ingenious 
sophistry  can  make  a  plausible  defense  for  such  "protection" 
by  which  the  American  Trust  sells  to  the  foreigner  necessary 
commodities,  after  paying  the  freight  across  the  seas,  for  one- 
half  the  price  exacted  from  the  American  citizen.  This 
iniquitous  policy  is,  and  forever  will  be,  condemned  by  the 
Democratic  Party.  But  I  do  not  believe  that  the  abolition  of 
the  tariff  would  destroy  the  trusts.  If  the  tariff  should  be 
adjusted  according  to  the  Democratic  idea,  instead  of  a  na- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  95 

tional,  we  would  have  international  trusts,  as  was  effected  by 
the  combination  of  the  American  Tobacco  Company  and  the 
Imperial  Tobacco  Company. 

The  right  to  destroy  includes  the  right  to  regulate.  If  the 
power  to  oppress  and  to  rob  be  essential  to  the  existence  of 
any  institution,  that  institution  ought  to  be  destroyed.  Con- 
cede that  it  is  the  duty  of  Government  to  forbid  agreements 
for  the  artificial  and  arbitrary  fixing  of  prices,  it  follows  that 
Government  should  prohibit  the  act,  be  it  accomplished  by  a 
monopoly  or  by  agreement.  It  is  the  act  and  not  the  agree- 
ment that  works  the  mischief. 

Government  control  has  been  necessitated  by  our  indus- 
trial development.  How  shall  it  be  effectuated?  It  should,  of 
course,  be  done  with  consideration  and  in  the  spirit  of  con- 
servatism. Not  in  the  spirit  of  retaliation  or  retribution,  but 
it  must  be  done  efficiently,  it  must  be  done  in  reality  and  not 
as  a  "sop  to  Cerberus."  It  must  be  done  by  the  friends  of 
the  people,  not  by  the  friends  of  the  trusts.  If  rightly  done 
it  will  be  by  the  Democratic  Party,  certainly  not  by  the  Re- 
publican Party. 

The  public  utilities  of  this  State  exercise  and  enjoy  ex- 
clusive privileges  by  grant  from  the  people.  A  fair  return 
to  invested  capital  and  just  compensation  for  business  ability 
is  theirs  by  right,  and  will  be  conceded  by  all.  But  the  Gov- 
ernment would  be  false  to  its  trust  to  permit  them,  by  the 
exercise  of  these  special  and  exclusive  privileges,  to  charge 
the  people  unreasonable  rates  for  the  payment  of  enormous 
dividends  and  the  booming  of  watered  stock. 

This  governmental  control  should  be  entrusted  to  the  im- 
mediate representatives  of  the  people.  Our  State  Corporation 
Commission  and  the  National  Commission  should  be  clothed 
with  powers  sufficient  to  correct  and  prevent  the  abuses  of 
monopoly.  These  powers  rest  upon  the  broad  basis  that  the 
power  of  Government  for  correction  is  co-extensive  with  the 
power  of  monopoly  for  abuse. 

The  States  can  regulate  commerce  within  their  boundaries, 
but  the  great  bulk  of  our  commerce  is  interstate.  Transpor- 
tation facilities  and  modern  progress  have  done  more  to  con- 
solidate the  nation  than  sentiment,  or  sword  or  Constitutional 


96  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

Amendment.  The  railroads  have  bound  the  country  together 
with  bands  of  iron.  Every  section  is  dependent  upon  every 
other  section  for  the  every-day  needs  of  life.  Greensboro  is 
commercially  closer  to  San  Francisco  today  than  it  was  to 
Raleigh  when  the  Union  was  established.  Then  the  States 
were  independent  of  each  other.  Now  they  are  dependent. 
Commerce  between  the  States  is  of  momentous  interest  to 
every  citizen,  and  as  to  this,  the  States  are  powerless  to  pro- 
tect themselves  against  the  charges  of  transportation  com- 
panies, no  matter  how  unjust  the  demand  or  how  grievous 
the  wrong.  This  power  to  regulate  interstate  commerce  must 
be  exercised  by  the  general  Government. 

There  are  those  who  pretend  to  be  alarmed  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  popular  interference.  I  resent  the  imputation  that 
property  is  secure  and  that  enterprise  is  protected  only  when 
the  disciples  of  Wall  Street  are  on  guard.  When,  by  all  man- 
ner of  fraudulent  practices  and  undue  advantage,  millions  and 
billions  have  been  drained  from  the  earnings  of  toil  without 
a  protest  from  a  long-suffering  people,  you  are  estopped  to 
say  that  they  are  unjust. 

The  enlightened  judgment  of  the  people  has  always  been 
righteous.  Its  purpose  is  necessarily  to  produce  the  greatest 
good  for  the  greatest  number.  The  people  are  now  awakening 
to  the  importance  of  this  great  question.  They  have  deter- 
mined to  assert  their  sovereignty.  You  cannot  avoid  it  if  you 
would.  They  will  not  stop  until  their  will  has  found  expres- 
sion in  the  law  of  the  land.  The  avalanche  has  begun  to 
move.  It  will  crush  whomsoever  would  trifle  with  it,  and 
grind  to  powder  him  that  would  block  its  way. 

That  law  that  is  based  upon  the  universal  conscience,  that 
results  from  the  collective  will  may  not  be  a  perfect  law,  but 
it  is  the  nearest  practicable  approach  to  the  ideal  law  of  per- 
fect liberty  and  perfect  justice. 

In  these  latter  days  some  are  prone  to  forget  the  source 
of  sovereign  power.  In  the  debate  on  the  Rate  Bill  it  was 
contended  by  the  leaders  of  the  Republican  Party  that  a  court 
created  by  statute  became,  by  virtue  of  its  creation,  invested 
with  inherent  power — such  as  the  power  to  issue  injunction — 
which  could  not  be  prescribed  by  its  creator,  the  law-making 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  97 

body.  This  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  great  interstate 
monopolies  were  beyond  the  supervision  and  control  of  legis- 
lative authority,  and  were  amenable  only  to  the  decrees  of  the 
Federal  Judiciary. 

When  United  States  Senators,  the  leaders  of  the  Repub- 
lican Party,  boldly  contend  that  there  is  any  power  beyond 
and  above  the  people,  it  is  high  time  that  we  should  take  our 
bearings  from  the  landmarks  of  the  fathers.  If  the  Legis- 
lature be  powerless  to  limit  the  power  of  a  statutory  court, 
the  people  in  convention  assembled  are  powerless  to  limit  the 
power  of  a  constitutional  court.  Such  a  conclusion  has  for  its 
own  postulate  the  "Divine  Right  of  Judges."  The  opinion  is 
growing  that  the  Federal  Courts  were  created  and  constituted 
as  the  guardians  of  corporate  interests.  Oliver  Cromwell  once 
walked  unceremoniously  with  covered  head  and  stick  in  hand 
into  the  Court,  and  shaking  his  fist  at  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
asked  him  where  he  got  his  meat  and  bread.  I  would  not  com- 
mend this  act  of  the  rugged  old  Protector,  but  some  of  the 
judges  should  be  reminded  that  they  were  appointed  as  ser- 
vants of  the  people  to  protect  and  enforce  the  rights  of  men, 
as  well  as  the  rights  of  property.  That,  in  theory  at  least, 
they  are  not  the  servants  of  a  corporation  and  not  the  fellow- 
servants  of  its  employees.  To  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  the  people  can  always  look  with  confidence  and 
security.  Since  the  formation  of  the  Republic  it  has  stood  as 
the  incorruptible  oracle  of  the  law  and  the  bulwark  against 
the  encroachments  of  sectional  hate  and  corporate  power.  The 
people  of  North  Carolina  too  should  remember  the  Circuit 
Judge  who  in  emulation  of  the  example  of  George  W.  Brooks 
issued  his  writ  for  the  protection  of  the  liberty  of  the  press 
and  the  right  of  a  North  Carolina  editor. 

The  Constitution  has  been  invoked.  It  has  always  been 
invoked  to  perpetuate  the  special  privilege  of  the  powerful 
and  has  been  distorted  for  the  protection  of  vested  wrong. 
But  this  defense  was  abandoned  by  the  "technical  lawyers" 
of  the  United  States  Senate  who  always  look  to  the  interests 
of  corporations. 

No  commission  can  be  infallible;  neither  are  the  courts 


98  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

infallible.  What  is  needed  is  a  tribunal  of  justness  and  fair- 
ness before  which  wrongs  can  be  righted  without  the  inter- 
midable  delay  and  abuses  of  the  right  to  litigate  in  the  courts. 

In  the  dawn  of  civilization  the  tribes  of  kindred  races  were 
implacable  enemies  and  robbed  and  slaughtered  each  other  in 
a  state  of  chronic  warfare.  As  they  become  more  enlightened 
and  civilized  the  law  of  justice  is  evolved.  It  takes  the  place 
of  violence  and  rapine  and  regulates  their  relations  to  their 
mutual  advantage.  They  are  united  into  a  nation  and  enter 
upon  a  higher  and  a  larger  destiny.  If  we  apply  to  our  so- 
ciety, to  all  hostile  classes  and  conflicting  interests  the  simple 
law  of  justice,  modern  civilization,  throbbing  with  the  pulsa- 
tions of  infinite  forces,  will  enter  upon  its  career  of  greatest 
achievements. 

The  events  of  the  last  few  years  have  astonished  the 
world.  The  little  nation  of  the  Orient  has  by  a  succession  of 
brilliant  victories  demonstrated  a  heroism  and  a  magic 
prowess  in  war.  In  Russia  a  benighted,  sluggish  people,  agi- 
tated by  the  aspirations  of  liberty  and  enlightenment,  are 
threatening  the  overthrow  of  despotism  by  revolution  and 
anarchy.  In  England  the  Liberals  have  been  restored  to 
power  by  overwhelming  majorities,  and  mechanics,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  Labor  Unions,  sit  as  influential  members  in  the 
British  Parliament. 

But  the  policies  significant  with  the  destiny  of  man  will 
be  determined  not  in  Great  Britain,  not  by  the  Japanese,  not 
at  St.  Petersburg  or  by  the  bomb-throwers  of  Moscow,  but 
necessarily  by  the  most  progressive  nation  of  the  earth,  the 
American  people — "the  heirs  of  all  the  ages  in  the  foremost 
files  of  time." 

The  logic  of  events  is  vindicating  the  wisdom  of  the  pol- 
icies of  the  Democratic  Party.  Time  and  time  again  has  the 
policy  of  special  privilege  triumphed  by  the  organized  power 
of  predatory  wealth,  but  the  American  people  are  too  honest, 
too  strong,  too  intelligent,  to  be  humbugged  beyond  the  day 
of  redemption. 

The  manipulators  of  finance  in  recent  campaigns  have  been 
horrified.    They  made  "broad  their  phylacteries."    They  em- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  99 

bezzled  the  trust  funds  of  the  people  to  corrupt  the  electorate 
for  the  preservation  of  the  national  honor.  The  Democratic 
holders  of  insurance  policies  all  over  the  Union  have  been  con- 
tributing money  to  buy  votes  for  Republican  candidates. 

They  say  that  ours  is  a  time  of  greed  and  graft,  but 
wherever  the  fight  has  been  made  with  vigor  and  earnestness 
against  corruption,  whether  in  St.  Louis  or  New  York  or 
Philadelphia  or  Washington,  the  people  have  driven  the  rascals 
out.    The  exiled  Dynasty  of  High  Ideals  will  be  restored. 

The  forces  are  gathering  for  the  next  great  national  con- 
test. Party  alignments  may  be  somewhat  disturbed,  but  the 
Democratic  hosts  are  united  and  determined.  The  grand  old 
party,  thrown  to  earth,  rises  with  unconquerable  vigor.  Her 
principles  were  born  with  human  freedom  and  human  progress. 
They  were  enunciated  in  Magna  Charta  and  the  Bill  of  Rights. 
One  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago  they  were  proclaimed  in 
the  grandest  declaration  of  the  rights  of  man.  She  hails 
today  as  her  leader  a  worthy  successor  of  Thomas  Jefferson 
and  Andrew  Jackson.  In  the  prime  of  magnificent  powers  he 
is  the  idol  of  the  American  people.  More  than  any  other  man 
he  stands  for  them.  He  is  the  embodiment  of  the  highest 
ideals  of  American  politics.  He  has  the  earnestness,  the 
courage,  the  masterful  energy  of  conviction.  He  has  the 
mental  poise  and  the  unselfish  patriotism  of  George  Wash- 
ington and  the  sublime  faith  in  the  wisdom  and  righteousness 
of  the  common  people  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 

Another  chapter  of  world  history  is  beginning,  and  Bryan 
is  the  leader  of  the  people  of  the  great  nation. 


100  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

THE  ENERGY  OF  DEMOCRACY 

Outline  of  speech  delivered  by  Locke  Craig  at  the  annual  banquet 
of  the  New  England  Society,  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  on  the  evening  of 
December  19,  1907. 

Plymouth  Rock  is  a  cornerstone  in  history.  The  landing 
of  the  Mayflower  was  a  dayspring  in  human  destiny.  An  un- 
eventful day  in  its  actual  occurrences,  but  its  inner  meaning, 
how  vast,  how  significant,  with  the  destiny  of  the  world !  In 
its  horoscope  there  is  Concord,  Bunker  Hill,  Lexington,  and 
Yorktown;  the  birth  of  the  Republic;  a  people  with  indomi- 
table energy  and  unfaltering  faith,  pushing  their  way  through 
difficulties  and  dangers  across  the  continent,  transforming  by 
their  victorious  industry  the  plain  and  the  wilderness  into 
wide  golden  seed  fields  and  steepled  cities ;  heavens  lurid  with 
tempests  of  war;  battle  banners  unfurled;  armies  marching; 
clouds  of  cavalry  galloping  in  the  storm.  All  this  is  in  the 
horoscope  of  that  day,  and  beyond  the  unfolding,  illimitable 
opportunities  and  responsibilities  of  the  great  nation  of  the 
great  age. 

The  early  settlers  of  America  came  from  the  loins  of  the 
mother  country  when  the  English  intellect  was  in  the  zenith 
of  its  splendor  and  the  English  character  in  the  prime  of  its 
power.  It  was  the  age  of  Bacon  and  Shakespeare,  of  John 
Milton  and  Cromwell;  an  age  of  stern  realities,  militant  for 
convictions;  an  age  when  men  had  a  faith  that  was  worth 
dying  for.  We  might  call  it  the  heroic  age  of  the  English 
race.  Our  ancestors  were  the  robust  offspring  of  that  great 
epoch.  They  came  to  the  New  World  with  no  greed  for  gold. 
They  came  to  build  a  State  where  Justice  was  the  law,  where 
the  individual  mind  and  character  might  have  scope  for 
growth  and  development. 

The  Puritans,  the  Cavaliers  and  the  Pilgrims  were  of  the 
same  race,  the  same  lineage,  the  same  blood,  the  same  re- 
ligion. In  dress  and  the  cut  of  the  hair,  in  the  verbiage  of 
the  ritual  and  in  the  ceremonial  they  did  not  agree.  They 
quarreled  about  intonations  and  genuflections.  But  their  dif- 
ferences were  superficial.    In  bone  and  fibre  they  were  homo- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  101 

geneous.  These  Puritans  burned  witches;  they  removed  the 
Indians;  they  talked  through  their  noses,  but  with  all  they 
preached  by  deed  and  word  the  gospel  of  Manhood  and  Justice. 

And  the  sound  of  their  axes  and  rifles  reverberating  there 
in  the  forests  and  bleak  hills  of  New  England,  and  their  songs 
in  the  log  meeting  houses  "already  reach  like  a  great  elegy, 
like  a  stern  prophecy,"  like  a  triumphant  battle  hymn,  to  the 
ends  of  the  world. 

If  I  could  express  your  conception  of  New  England  it 
would  be  sublimer  than  Mount  Washington,  grander  than 
Daniel  Webster,  and  more  beautiful  than  the  serene  loveliness 
of  Priscilla.  And  if  I  could  express  the  ideal  of  the  South  it 
would  be  more  inspiring  than  the  dome  of  the  Appalachians, 
more  exalted  than  her  noblest  man,  more  lovely  than  the  re- 
splendent beauty  of  her  fairest  daughter. 

Every  great  people  has  a  distinct  meaning,  and  the  spirit 
of  such  a  people  is  greater  than  that  of  any  individual.  Such 
a  people  is  the  interpreter  of  a  sublime  thought,  the  embodi- 
ment of  a  moral  force. 

New  England  and  the  South  have  created  the  opposing  cur- 
rents of  American  life,  and  determined  the  opposite  poles  of 
American  thought.  The  one  glowing  with  earnestness,  like 
the  roaring  furnace  filled  with  coal — with  anthracite  coal — 
determined  and  uncompromising,  standing  for  universal  eman- 
cipation, setting  at  naught  the  ancient  formulas;  forged  the 
thoughts  that  found  expression  in  the  tramp  of  embattled 
hosts,  the  rattle  of  musketry,  and  the  thunders  of  field  ar- 
tillery. The  other  standing  for  the  natural  supremacy  of  the 
imperial  race,  the  ideals  of  the  fathers,  the  sovereignty  of  the 
States,  the  Republic  of  the  Constitution,  blazed  forth  in  tem- 
pests of  war,  yielded  up  her  bravest  and  noblest  to  die  for  the 
cause  of  "the  storm-cradled  nation  that  fell." 

The  Civil  War  is  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  heroic  past. 
Its  hatreds  have  been  forgotten.  Its  glories  will  live  forever. 
No  sane  man  today  cherishes  any  real  sectional  animosity. 
The  denizens  of  the  remote  places  are  not  so  benighted,  not 
so  provincial  as  that. 

The  whole  fabric  of  our  society  has  changed.    The  com- 


102  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

munity  of  interest  today  is  not  determined  by  geographical 
lines.  Our  ante-bellum  civilization  was  one  of  individualism, 
one  of  sectionalism,  but  the  civilization  of  today  is  one  of  vast 
co-operation  and  organization.  The  welfare  of  every  section 
is  dependent  upon  every  other  section.  Our  interests  are 
interdependent  and  interwoven.  In  the  evolution  of  progress 
we  have  passed  from  the  homogeneous,  unorganized  state  to 
the  definite  organized  society  in  which  each  department  of 
industry  has  been  defined  and  segregated,  and  performs  its 
separate  function  in  the  great  modern  social  organism.  Under 
the  old  order  there  developed  an  attractive  civilization,  an 
individuality  strong  and  comprehensive.  In  the  old  South 
each  plantation  was  a  community  within  itself.  It  was 
equipped  with  all  necessary  appliances.  The  planter  produced 
his  own  corn  and  meat.  He  had  his  own  carpenter  shop  and 
blacksmith  shop,  his  gin  house,  his  spinning  wheels  and  his 
looms.  He  was  cultivated,  intellectual  and  knightly.  He  was 
broadminded  and  understood  the  policies  of  Government  and 
the  duties  of  citizenship.  He  was  of  the  finest  type  of  man- 
hood, but  he  was  sectional.  His  environment  made  him  sec- 
tional. 

In  those  days  there  were  no  telegraphs  and  no  railroads. 
Commercially  each  State  was  to  a  large  extent  separate  and 
independent.  This  fact  necessarily  affected  its  political  re- 
lations. Why  should  New  England  have  a  voice  in  the  legis- 
lation that  affected  the  South  when  New  England  and  the 
South  were  distinct  communities,  with  distinct  and  separate 
interests?  Facilities  of  transportation  and  communication 
have  changed  all  this.  Greensboro  is  today  closer  to  Chicago 
or  New  York  than  it  was  to  Raleigh  fifty  years  ago.  Each 
section  is  now  an  individual  part  of  every  other  section.  Your 
cattle  are  now  grazing  on  the  plains  of  Texas.  Your  butcher- 
man  is  in  Chicago.  Your  looms,  that  used  to  be  in  New  Eng- 
land, are  now  at  White  Oak  and  Proximity,  and  in  Dixie  you 
will  hear  the  songs  of  the  plantation  and  see  the  black  women 
and  the  pickaninnies  picking  the  cotton  for  all  the  people  of 
the  world. 

The  interests  of  all  in  the  same  department  of  industry 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  103 

are  identical,  regardless  of  locality.  Sympathy  and  co- 
operation born  of  this  identity  are  not  bounded  by  State  lines. 
The  manufacturers  and  the  railroads  are  affected  alike  by  any 
general  law,  whether  they  exist  in  Michigan  or  North  Car- 
olina. Their  affiliations  are  not  determined  by  sectional  con- 
siderations. The  same  conditions  and  principles  apply  to  all 
departments  of  our  industrial  life.  Facilities  for  rapid  trans- 
portation have  developed  this  interdependence.  The  tele- 
graph and  daily  newspaper  cause  every  one  with  a  common 
purpose  to  throb  with  the  pulsations  of  the  same  thought. 
We  glory  in  the  courage  of  men  who  will  in  the  last  extremity 
fight  for  their  rights,  but  interests  based  upon  rights  are  no 
longer  sectional.  The  contest  cannot  be  sectional.  The  evo- 
lution of  modern  progress  has  consolidated  the  nation  as 
neither  sword  nor  sentiment  nor  constitutional  amendment 
could  do. 

The  railroads  have  bound  the  country  together  with  bands 
of  iron,  the  telegraph  has  united  each  interest  by  the  electric 
current  of  the  same  thought. 

For  the  old  soldiers  to  shake  hands  across  the  imaginary 
bloody  chasm  is  noble  and  pathetic.  To  be  magnanimous  in 
victory  is  grand,  to  be  magnanimous  in  defeat  is  sublime.  But 
there  is  no  chasm.  If  there  were  it  could  not  be  closed  by 
handshaking  any  more  than  it  could  in  the  '50s.  Progress  has 
obliterated  the  chasm.  The  great  currents  of  commerce  and 
the  common  sense  of  mankind  make  any  sectional  chasm  im- 
possible. Progress  proclaims  the  unity  of  the  race.  Hostile 
promoters  cannot  withstand  modern  development.  The  sym- 
pathies and  the  allegiance  of  every  American  are  necessarily 
co-extensive  with  the  borders  of  the  Union.  The  limitations 
and  opportunities  of  American  enterprise  are  determined  by 
the  orbit  of  the  world. 

But  to  an  advancing  people  the  solution  of  one  problem  is 
the  presentation  of  another,  more  complicated,  demanding 
greater  wisdom  and  courage.  Progress  involves  the  respon- 
sibility of  grappling  with  perplexing  questions  of  vital  sig- 
nificance. We  have  no  conflicting  sections,  but  we  do  have 
various  classes,  and  gigantic  organizations,  whose  operations 


104  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

ramify  into  every  section  and  affect  the  welfare  of  every 
section. 

The  situation  demands  for  its  consideration  the  wisdom 
and  courage  of  the  American  people.  In  one  form  or  another 
it  has  been  the  rock  upon  which  preceding  civilizations  have 
been  wrecked.  As  we  pass  down  the  tide  of  time  the  Sphinx 
of  Destiny  has  asked  us,  too,  a  question.  Our  answer  will  de- 
termine whether  we  shall  turn  backward  or  go  forward  to  a 
larger  destiny. 

Time  and  occasion  would  not  permit  a  particular  discussion 
of  this  question,  but  its  answer  may  be  found  in  the  utterance 
of  the  Sage  of  Monticello,  "Equal  rights  to  all  and  special 
privilege  to  none."  And  in  this  the  guarantee  of  equal  rights 
is  with  the  same  emphasis  as  the  denial  of  special  privilege. 

The  same  agencies  that  have  welded  together  the  sections 
have  segregated  the  people  into  conflicting  classes.  These 
agencies  have  also  enlightened  and  quickened  the  conscience 
of  the  people.  The  high  court  of  last  resort  to  which  all 
citizens  and  all  interests  must  appeal  is  the  people.  The  judg- 
ment of  all  the  people  is  wiser  than  that  of  any  man  or  class. 
The  voice  of  the  people  is  the  unified  expression  of  all  the 
governing  forces  of  humanity.  This  is  the  Sovereign  whose 
will  is  the  law.  It  is  not  the  perfect  law,  but  it  is  the  nearest 
approach  to  the  ideal  law  of  perfect  justice.  We  know  that 
the  prosperity  of  every  legitimate  enterprise  means  the  wel- 
fare of  the  whole  country.  This  strife  will  cease  when  it  can 
be  realized  that  the  Sovereign  will  guarantee  to  all  justice — 
that  each  shall  have  his  own  and  shall  not  take  another's. 
Organized  society  must  respond  to  new  conditions  to  provide 
for  the  consideration  of  the  rights  of  all  and  to  guarantee 
with  reasonable  security,  justice  to  all  classes  and  orders. 

If  there  be  one  thing  which  the  American  people  love  more 
than  another,  that  which  they  will  stand  for,  which  they  will 
contend  for,  which  they  will  fight  for,  it  is  Justice.  This  is 
the  strength  of  the  Republic,  and  this  is  the  energy  of  our 
Democracy.  "It  is  grander  than  benevolence,  something  more 
august  than  charity."  It  is  the  law  of  all  progress — the  life 
of  all  civilization.     It  shed  its  light   upon  ancient  Greece, 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  105 

"marble  grew  to  shapes  of  ideal  beauty,"  and  men  ascended 
to  the  realms  of  Wisdom  and  Philosophy.  Its  spirit  was 
breathed  into  a  people  toiling  under  the  lash  of  Egyptian  task- 
maskers,  and  they  went  forth  a  race  of  conquerors  from  the 
house  of  bondage.  To  their  prophets  and  poets  was  revealed 
the  unity  of  God  in  the  highest  exaltation  of  thought.  It  was 
this  that  glinted  from  the  shields  of  our  ancestors  when 
they  died  before  the  legions  of  Caesar.  It  made  the 
men  of  the  Mayflower  greater  than  conquerors.  It  planted 
here  the  seed  of  a  mighty  tree.  If  guided  by  this  same  Puritan 
courage,  this  same  justice  that  our  fathers  loved,  we  adjust 
our  institutions  to  the  new  conditions  and  the  illimitable 
forces,  who  can  see  the  possibilities  of  American  attainment, 
and  who  can  measure  the  opportunities  of  the  American  man  ? 

In  the  achievements  of  this  mighty  people  the  South  will 
do  her  part,  politically,  morally  and  industrially.  The  ancient 
doctrine  of  States  Sovereignty  for  which  she  always  contended 
has  come  again  to  be  a  cardinal  tenet  of  our  political  faith, 
and  is  recognized  as  a  vital  force  in  our  Government. 

She  is  coming  to  the  realization  of  her  vast  resources  and 
magnificent  possibilities.  Her  cotton  crop  of  1907,  consisting 
of  11,700,000  bales,  is  worth  in  cash  $700,000,000.  The  fact 
that  this  great  staple  must  command  for  this  country  the 
money  of  the  world  was  a  powerful  factor  to  relieve  our  finan- 
cial distress.  Agriculture  is  not  her  only  industry  as  in  for- 
mer years.  She  is  manufacturing  her  timber  into  furniture, 
and  spinning  and  weaving  her  cotton.  Above  the  bass  voice 
of  the  steam  engine,  and  the  roar  of  the  cataract,  there  rises 
the  manifold  song  of  multiplex  wheel  and  spindle.  The  South 
is  a  part  and  a  great  part  of  this  mighty  industrial  organi- 
zation. 

We  are  loyal  to  the  Union.  We  love  the  flag.  But  Dixie 
consecrated  by  the  blood  of  our  fathers  will  forever  be  re- 
membered in  tears  of  pathos  and  immortal  love.  On  that 
altar  was  laid  the  fairest  and  the  bravest  of  the  world.  Their 
heroism  in  war  and  in  peace  is  the  priceless  heritage  of  the 
race  and  the  imperishable  glory  of  the  South.  I  have  faith 
that  the  men  of  the  New  South  are  worthy  sons  of  the  men 


106  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

of  the  Old  South,  that,  inspired  by  the  fire,  the  courage,  the 
devotion  of  their  fathers,  they  will  strive  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  ever-increasing  purpose  of  the  ages. 

In  perfect  fellowship  and  brotherhood,  as  one  mighty  peo- 
ple, we  work  together  for  the  realization  of  the  ideal  that  is 
higher  than  the  ideal  of  the  South,  of  New  England  or  the 
West — the  ideal  of  the  unified  Republic — the  Hope  of  the 
World. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  107 

ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME  TO  THE 

TRAVELERS'  PROTECTIVE 

ASSOCIATION 

(Asheville,  1908) 

NOTE:     Hon  Locke  Craig  represented  Hon.  John  A.  Campbell,  the 

Mayor  of  Asheville,  and  delivered   the   address   of  welcome   on  behalf 

of  the  City. 

(Stenographic  Report) 

Mr.  Craig  spoke  as  follows:  The  Governor  has  so  well 
and  so  completely  covered  the  whole  ground  that  there  is 
nothing  left  for  me  to  say.  What  I  shall  attempt  to  say  I 
fear  will  fit  the  reply  that  an  old  deacon  made  to  the  young 
minister  when  asked  how  he  liked  the  sermon.  "Well,  Father 
Brown,  how  did  you  like  my  sermon  yesterday?"  asked  the 
young  preacher.  "You  see,  parson,"  was  the  reply,  "I  haven't 
a  fair  chance  at  them  sermons  of  yourn.  I  am  an  old  man 
now  'n'  have  to  set  purty  well  back  by  the  stove,  'n'  there  is 
old  Miss  Smith  'n'  widow  Taft,  'n'  Mrs.  Rylan's  daughters  'n' 
Nabby  Birt  'n'  all  the  rest  setting  in  front  of  me,  with  their 
mouths  wide  open,  a-swallowing  down  all  the  best  of  the  ser- 
mon— 'n'  what  gets  down  to  me  is  purty  poor  stuff,  parson — 
purty  poor  stuff."     (Laughter.) 

But  I  will  say  now,  if  there  is  anyone  that  thinks  that  he 
can  do  any  better  than  I  can,  let  him  come  forward  and  he  is 
welcome  to  the  job.     (Laughter.) 

I  very  highly  appreciate,  however,  the  honor  that  it  is  to 
welcome  to  our  little  city  this  great  convention.  These  dele- 
gates have  come  from  all  sections  of  the  Republic,  from  the 
cities  of  the  northern  lakes,  and  from  the  seaports  sustained 
by  the  trade  winds  of  tropical  seas,  from  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  from  the  Atlantic  slope,  and  from  the  declivities 
of  the  Sierra  Nevadas.  It  comprises  within  its  jurisdiction 
the  greatest  commercial  empire  of  all  the  earth  and  all  the 
centuries,  extending,  as  it  does,  in  one  unbroken  domain  from 
the  emporiums  of  the  Atlantic  liners,  that  carry  the  trade  of 
Europe,  to  the  harbors  that  welcome  the  tramps  of  the  Pacific 
carrying  the  wealth  of  Asia  and  the  islands  of  the  sea. 


108  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

By  authority  of  John  A.  Campbell,  Mayor  of  Asheville,  and 
the  best  and  most  popular  mayor  that  Asheville  ever  had,  I 
extend  to  you  a  most  cordial  welcome.  This  Queen  City  of 
the  Appalachian  Hills  and  all  her  people — her  noble,  generous 
men,  her  women,  finer  than  the  sculptured  marble  of  Carrara, 
her  merchants,  her  hotels,  her  boarding  houses,  her  res- 
taurants (laughter)  her  livery  stables  (laughter)  her  soft 
drink  places  and  other  drink  places  (laughter)  her  cigar 
stands  (laughter)  her  soda  fountains  (laughter)  her  boot- 
blacks, and  every  electric  light,  and  every  flaunting  banner  and 
waving  flag,  with  universal  acclaim  shout  "Howdy  do  and  all- 
hail  to  the  T.P.A."     (Applause.) 

We  hope  that  your  pilgrimage  here  may  be  one  of  delight 
"waited  on  by  the  choral  muses  and  the  rosy  hours."  We  are 
poor  compared  with  our  desire  for  your  pleasure,  but  abundant 
in  the  wealth  of  the  hospitality  of  the  heart.  You  have  met 
in  greater  cities  of  vaster  wealth  and  more  magnificent  struc- 
tures. You  have  met  in  cities  where  there  were  more  places 
of  spirituous  conviviality  (laughter)  but  you  have  never  met 
in  a  place  that  had  purer  air  and  finer  water  or  any  more  of 
it.  (Laughter.)  And  this  city  is  rich  in  the  traditions  of  the 
heroic  past,  and  richer  in  the  hope  and  inspiration  of  a  greater 
future.  We  cannot  point  you  to  the  snow-clad  altitudes  of  the 
Rockies,  but  from  the  Battery  Park  Hotel  you  can  look  upon 
a  vast  undulating  table  land  as  beautiful  as  Switzerland,  and 
upon  mountain  peaks  where  the  gods  of  Olympus  would  have 
sat  in  council  had  they  only  known  about  them.  (Laughter 
and  Applause.)  We  have  here  the  music  of  crystal  waters 
and  fragrance  of  wild  flowers.  But  the  finest  music  is  that 
which  the  mountain  boy  feels  when  he  looks  into  the  depths 
of  the  eyes  of  a  mountain  girl,  and  doubts  whether  he  sees 
there  the  reflections  of  the  heavenly  stars  or  gleams  from  the 
regions  of  nether  fire.     (Laughter  and  Applause.) 

While  considering  this  phase  of  the  question  I  was  re- 
minded of  the  wonderful  evolution  in  the  form  and  fashions 
of  society.  In  the  year  1670,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II,  the 
following  law  was  solemnly  enacted  by  the  Parliament  of 
Great  Britain :    "That  all  women  of  whatever  age,  rank,  pro- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  109 

fession  or  degree,  whether  virgins,  maids  or  widows,  that 
shall  from  and  after  the  passage  of  this  Act  impose  upon  and 
betray  into  matrimony  any  of  His  Majesty's  male  subjects  by 
scents,  paints  (laughter)  cosmetics,  washes,  artificial  teeth 
(laughter)  false  hair  (great  laughter  and  cries  of  "rats") 
Spanish  wool,  iron  stays,  hoops,  high-heeled  shoes  or  bolstered 
hips  (great  laughter)  shall  incur  the  penalties  of  the  laws 
now  in  force  against  witchcraft,  sorcery  and  such  like  mis- 
demeanors, and  that  the  marriage,  upon  conviction,  shall  stand 
null  and  void."  (Laughter  and  Applause.)  When  I  look  upon 
this  vast  audience  and  the  women  of  the  Twentieth  Century 
I  see  how  far  we  have  advanced  beyond  the  necessity  for  any 
such  statute.  No  living  man  has  ever  seen  any  such  resorts 
of  witchcraft,  and  a  conviction  under  the  statute  would  now 
be  impossible.  For  if  any  man  would  give  testimony  that  he 
had  ever  seen  the  like  it  would  be  more  tolerable  for  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  in  the  Day  of  Judgment  than  for  him. 
(Laughter  and  Applause.) 

We  live  in  the  age  of  material  development — a  commercial 
age.  There  was  an  age  of  war,  an  age  of  chivalry,  an  age  of 
religious  fervor.  This  is  the  age  of  commerce.  You,  as  a 
gentleman  remarked  while  Governor  Kitchin  was  speaking, 
are  her  evangels.  The  men  who  are  today  controlling  the 
destinies  of  the  world  are  not  the  captains  of  armies  nor  the 
oracles  of  senates,  but  the  captains  of  industry  and  commerce. 
We  entertain  today  the  men  who  are  directing  and  driving  the 
commerce  of  the  world.  We  do  not  build  today  cathedrals  but 
railroad  stations,  faster  than  the  Temple  of  Ephesus  and  in- 
numerable. 

Factory  chimneys  more  costly  than  sacred  high  spires, 
and  from  them  ever  stream  columns  of  smoke  from  the  altars 
of  industry.  They  tell  us  that  Orpheus  by  the  music  of  his 
lyre  built  the  walls  and  the  temples  of  Thebes.  Have  you 
ever  heard  in  the  morning  the  awakening  of  a  Lowell  or  a 
Pittsburgh  or  a  Birmingham  ? — sounding  like  the  boom  of  the 
Atlantic  breaking  upon  the  everlasting  rocks.  Ten  thousand 
whistles  blowing,  ten  thousand  engines  throbbing,  generating 
a  power  greater  than  that  of  all  the  beasts  of  the  earth  com- 


HO  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

bined,  ten  thousand  steam  hammers  ringing,  shaping  the 
mammoth  guns  of  battleships  and  mighty  shafts.  We  too  are 
building  by  the  vast  music  of  this  great  modern  industry. 
And  this  modern  commerce  has  done  more  to  cement  the 
Union  than  sword  or  sentiment  or  Constitutional  Amendment. 
(Loud  Applause  and  Cheers.)  The  telegraph  and  the  railroad 
have  united  us.  The  electric  pulsations  of  the  same  life  throb 
today  in  every  State  of  the  Union.  The  country  is  bound  to- 
gether by  bands  of  iron.  The  men  of  commerce  have  made 
each  section  of  the  country  dependent  upon  every  other  sec- 
tion. This  is  an  indissoluble  union  of  indestructible  States 
from  the  fact  that  each  State  is  essential  to  the  welfare  of 
every  other  State.  (Applause.)  My  smoke-house  is  in  Chi- 
cago. New  England  must  wear  the  cotton  that  is  grown  in 
the  South.  My  cattle  graze  upon  the  plains  of  Texas.  We 
love  the  memories  of  the  heroic  past,  but  there  is  not  a  man 
in  Dixie  who  would  not  die  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  the  flag. 
(Applause.) 

We  must  remember,  however,  that  commerce  and  com- 
mercial supremacy  are  not  the  ultimate  end  of  a  nation's 
destiny. 

"For  heathen  heart)  that  puts  her  trust 
In  reeking  tube  and  iron  shard." 

You  may  talk  of  armies  and  navies  and  protection  to 
American  industry,  but  give  American  manhood  and  American 
energy  a  fair  chance  and  they  will  conquer  the  world.  (Ap- 
plause.) The  Standard  Oil  Company — and  I  am  not  discuss- 
ing the  political  or  social  status  of  this  great  concern — this  is 
not  the  forum  for  that — the  Standard  Oil  Company  invested 
$500,000,  I  believe,  in  lamps  and  lamp  chimneys.  They  were 
not  dealing  in  lamps.  They  bought  these  lamps,  filled  them 
with  oil,  sent  them  to  China  to  create  a  demand  for  oil  among 
the  hundreds  of  millions  of  the  Mongolian  race.  Today  the 
tank  ships  of  this  company  are  riding  upon  the  waves  of  both 
the  oceans,  and  the  Russian  serf  is  reading  American  theories 
of  government  by  the  light  of  the  oil  that  is  taken  from  the 
center  of  the  American  Continent.     This  is  the  energy  and 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  111 

the  enterprise  that  cannot  be  resisted.  The  American  drum- 
mer has  gone  to  the  weary  Pilgrim  sitting  among  the  ruins  of 
Babylon  and  sold  him  a  "Uneeda  Biscuit."  (Laughter.)  He 
has  gone  to  the  sage  who  sat  under  the  palm  trees  of  Tad- 
mor  contemplating  the  problems  of  eternity  and  immensity, 
and  convinced  him  that  the  one  thing  needful  was  a  sack  of 
Bull  Durham  Tobacco.  (Laughter  and  Applause.)  He  has 
gone  to  the  Hyperborean,  standing  upon  the  cliffs  of  the  upper- 
most North,  listening  to  the  peaceful  gurgle  of  the  slow- 
heaving  Polar  Ocean,  and  sold  him  a  sealskin  grown  in  the 
cotton  fields  of  the  South  and  woven  in  the  looms  of  New 
England.  (Laughter  and  Applause.)  This  is  the  drummer 
boy  that  never  has  and  never  will  beat  a  retreat.  (Applause.) 
The  incarnation  of  American  grit  and  determination  and 
energy  and  intelligence  and  enterprise  is  the  American  drum- 
mer. He  is  energized  by  the  spirit  that  was  manifest  in  the 
young  volunteer  that  went  from  North  Carolina  in  '62.  His 
father  was  in  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia.  And  when  the 
boy  heard  of  battles  and  sieges  he  was  determined  to  go.  His 
mother  begged  him  to  stay  at  home.  He  was  her  only  stay 
and  comfort,  but  he  must  go.  Clad  in  his  bright  new  uniform, 
the  young  volunteer  went  to  the  front.  He  wanted  to  get  into 
a  battle,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  was  satisfied.  They 
were  fighting  the  Battle  of  Fredericksburg.  There  was  a  bat- 
tery on  a  hill  that  was  playing  havoc  with  the  Confederate 
forces.  The  General  ordered  a  charge  upon  this  battery,  and 
up  the  hill  the  Division  went.    There  was 

"Cannon  to  right  of  them, 
Cannon  to  left  of  them, 
And  cannon  in  front  of  them." 

Their  ranks  were  swept  by  grape  and  canister.  They  fell 
like  ripe  wheat  before  the  sickle.  They  marched  on  over  the 
dead  bodies  of  their  comrades  who  had  fallen  in  front,  "but 
their's  not  to  reason  why,"  for  the  iron  lips  of  Stonewall 
Jackson  himself  had  said  "forward."  But  the  General  saw, 
or  thought  he  saw,  that  the  battery  could  not  be  taken.  He 
commanded  the  trumpeter  to  sound  the  retreat.    And  above 


112  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

the  storm  of  battle  the  shrill  note  sounded.  The  veterans 
knew  what  it  meant.  They  fell  back  and  fell  back  at  once, 
but  this  young  volunteer  in  the  front  rank  did  not  know  what 
it  meant.  He  thought  it  meant  to  go  faster,  and  up  the  hill 
alone  he  went.  Both  armies  stopped  and  looked  at  him.  He 
rushed  to  the  breastworks,  rammed  his  new  cap  in  the  mouth 
of  a  cannon,  leaped  over,  grabbed  a  Yankee  by  the  nap  of  the 
neck,  and  came  tumbling  down  the  hill  with  him.  (Applause.) 
His  bewildered  comrades  exclaimed,  "Where  did  you  get  that 
man?"  "Why,"  said  he,  "I  got  him  up  on  top  of  the  hill 
there,  and  there  are  plenty  more  of  them  up  there.  Why 
haven't  you  got  one?"     (Laughter  and  Applause.) 

This  is  the  unconquerable  spirit  of  American  manhood 
that  today  makes  that  flag  the  greatest  flag  of  all  the  nations 
and  this  people  the  greatest  people  of  the  earth.  (Loud  Ap- 
plause.) 

I  deliver  to  you  the  key  of  our  city,  but  it  is  unnecessary, 
for  our  doors  are  all  open  and  the  latch-string  hangs  upon  the 
outside.  (Presenting  Key  to  the  President  of  the  T.P.A.) 
(Prolonged  Applause.) 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  113 


CARLYLE 

Delivered  Before  The  Pen  &  Plate  Club  At 
Asheville  In  1910. 

English  Literature  has  had  two  periods  of  magnificent 
flower.  The  one  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  the  other  in 
the  reign  of  Victoria.  One  grew  from  Feudalism  and  Roman 
Catholicism,  the  other  from  Democracy  and  Protestantism. 
Shakespeare  was  the  splendor  of  the  former;  the  grandeur  of 
the  latter  was  Thomas  Carlyle. 

In  the  Valley  of  Parnassus  there  was  a  fissure  in  the 
earth  from  which  issued  sulphurous  vapors.  A  goat-herd  was 
tempted  to  lean  over  this  hole  to  solve,  if  he  could,  the  mys- 
teries of  this  place.  Immediately  a  shivering  ran  through 
his  body;  his  hair  stood  on  end;  his  eyes  blazed  with  light. 
He  spoke  strange  things.  Some  said  that  he  spoke  the  jargon 
of  delirium;  others  believed  that  his  words  were  those  of  an 
oracle,  and  here  was  built  the  Temple  of  the  Delphic  Apollo, 
to  which  the  ancients  came  to  seek  wisdom.  Somewhat 
analogous  was  Thomas  Carlyle,  and  the  judgment  pronounced 
upon  him  by  modern  criticism.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Scotch 
Peasant.  With  the  eye  of  wonder  he  looked  upon  the  Uni- 
verse: the  Hebrew  Bible,  the  thoughts  of  the  masters  of 
English  and  German  Literature  were  his  inspiration.  When 
he  published  his  first  books,  many  wagged  their  heads  and 
pronounced  his  utterances  incoherent,  extravagant,  the  pro- 
duct of  a  disordered  mind,  but  already  the  wise  men  and 
seekers  for  truth  from  all  the  nations  have  come  as  pilgrims 
to  this  oracle. 

The  Scotch  in  many  respects  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to 
the  ancient  Hebrews.  Strength,  earnestness,  reverence,  an 
immovable  faith  that  makes  martyrs ;  that  exalted  conception 
of  God  whose  decrees  are  righteous  and  terrible,  are  char- 
acteristic of  both  these  peoples.  This  resemblance  was  especi- 
ally manifest  during  the  era  of  religious  strife  inaugurated 
by  the  Diet  of  Worms  and  stimulated  by  the  School  of  Geneva. 

The  stern  and  relentless  decrees  of  the  Hebrew  Bible  ap- 


114  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

pealed  to  the  innermost  natures  of  men  like  John  Knox  and 
the  Lords  of  the  Congregation,  and  it  was  inevitable  that  they 
should  establish  an  ecclesiastical  state  modeled  after  the 
Theocracy  of  Moses  and  the  Prophets.  Carlyle  was  a  Scotch- 
man; he  possessed  the  typical  characteristics  of  his  race;  he 
was  cast  in  the  heroic  mould  of  the  Covenanter;  he  inherited 
their  religion  and  their  creed;  the  latter  he  discarded;  the 
spirit  of  their  religion  was  the  basis  and  the  inspiration  of 
his  life.  An  heir  of  the  Covenant,  nurtured  in  the  sublime 
and  awful  teachings  of  the  Prophets ;  imbued  with  the  trans- 
cendentalism of  the  Literature  of  Germany;  unfettered  of  all 
dogmas  and  formulas — a  Titan  of  the  Nineteenth  Century — 
such  was  Thomas  Carlyle. 

From  his  appearance  you  could  tell  his  country  and  his 
lineage.  His  body  was  not  robust ;  his  face  was  rugged.  The 
description  of  Teufelsdrockh  would  fit  him:  "Under  those 
thick  locks  of  his — long  and  lank — overlapping  roofwise  the 
gravest  face  you  ever  saw,  there  dwelt  a  volcanic  brain.  In 
his  eyes,  too,  under  their  deep  shaggy  brows  looking  out  so 
still  and  dreamy,  you  would  see  the  gleam  of  an  etherial  or 
else  a  diabolic  fire  and  could  fancy  that  their  stillness  was  but 
the  rest  of  infinite  motion — the  sleep  of  a  spinning  top." 

He  graduated  at  the  University  of  Edinborough ;  his  school 
days  and  college  life  were  uneventful.  He  was  the  beloved 
son  of  his  mother.  Though  unable  to  read  until  she  was 
grown,  by  a  mother's  intuition  she  knew  that  she  too  had 
borne  a  mighty  man.  She  set  her  heart  in  seeing  him  in  the 
Scotch  pulpit,  a  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  Church;  to  her 
all  eminence  and  distinctions  were  low  and  to  be  despised 
compared  with  this.  But  this  son  of  hers  could  not  be  a  sec- 
tarian. He  would  not  accept  the  dogmas  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  nor  of  any  other  church.  Though  not  a  minister  or- 
dained by  the  church  he  knew  that  he  had  a  message  to  de- 
liver, and  finally  decided  to  make  literature  his  profession. 

He  left  Edinborough  and  went  to  Craigenputtock  to  begin 
in  earnest  his  life  and  his  literary  work.  He  was  thirty-two 
years  old.  Froude  says  of  Craigenputtock  that  it  "is  the 
dreariest  spot  in  all  the  British  Dominion."    But  it  was  not 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  115 

an  uninteresting  place.  There  were  wide  billowy  straths  of 
grass  around  it ;  the  silence  was  broken  by  the  lowing  of  herds 
and  the  bleating  of  sheep ;  the  rolling  hills  were  covered  with 
firs  and  heather;  here  could  be  seen  the  hill  where  Agricola 
built  a  camp;  where  Galgarcus  at  the  head  of  the  Northern 
Barbarians — the  race  that  never  crouched  in  bondage — made 
his  last  death  defiant  stand  against  the  crushing  destiny  of 
the  Roman  power.  It  was  here,  according  to  Tacitus,  that 
this  savage  hurled  at  the  Romans  the  words  equal  to  those  of 
Napoleon  at  the  Pyramids,  and  which  live  in  the  oratory  of 
our  day :    "They  make  the  land  a  desolation  and  call  it  peace." 

Craigenputtock  was  indeed  a  remote  place — a  solitude — no 
human  habitation  within  a  mile  and  no  doctor  within  fifteen 
miles.  In  all  our  mountain  country  there  is  not  a  home  as 
remote  as  was  this  place  where  Carlyle  spent  the  great  years 
of  his  young  manhood. 

Having  refused  to  accept  the  faith  of  his  fathers,  intensely 
religious,  consumed  with  a  desire  to  know  and  to  speak  the 
truth,  it  was  well  that  he,  like  the  Prophets  and  John  the 
Baptist,  should  go  to  the  solitude  for  his  life  wrestle  and  to 
bring  order  out  of  the  chaos  of  his  own  thoughts.  The  stars, 
young  and  clear,  sang  to  him  as  they  did  to  the  shepherds 
twenty  centuries  ago  upon  the  plains  of  Shinar.  This  is  how 
he  looked  at  the  sunrise  in  his  summer  walks  over  the  hills: 
"Right  ahead  the  great  Northeast  sends  up  evermore  his 
gray-brindled  dawn.  From  the  dewey  branch  birds  here  and 
there  with  short  deep  warble  salute  the  coming  sun.  Stars 
fade  out  and  galaxes — street  lamps  of  the  City  of  God.  The 
Universe  flings  wide  his  portals  for  the  levee  of  the  Great 
High  King." 

His  first  book,  Sartor  Resartus,  or  the  philosophy  of 
clothes,  was  written  while  he  lived  at  Craigenputtock.  This 
book  is  his  message  to  the  world.  The  many  books  that  he 
afterwards  wrote  are  the  logical  emenation  from  this  his  first 
and  greatest  work. 

One  might  think  that  he  named  this  book  in  a  spirit  of 
drollery.  But  this  is  how  he  defines  his  theme :  "In  this  one 
pregnant  subject  of  clothes,  rightly  understood,  is  included 


116  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

all  that  men  have  thought,  dreamed,  done  and  been.  The 
whole  external  universe  and  what  it  holds  is  but  clothing; 
and  the  essence  of  all  science  lies  in  the  Philosophy  of  Clothes." 
He  uses  the  term  to  signify  the  emblem,  the  visible  mani- 
festation of  the  invisible  force.  Whatsoever  represents  the 
spiritual  he  designates  as  clothes — a  suit  of  raiment  put  on 
for  a  season  and  to  be  laid  off. 

Dogmas,  creeds,  institutions,  he  calls  clothes.  Man  him- 
self is  clothed  with  a  body.  With  Carlyle  God  is  the  Eternal 
from  everlasting  to  everlasting;  the  visible  universe  is  His 
garment  "For  was  it  not  written,  The  Heavens  and  the  Earth 
shall  fade  away  like  a  Vesture,  which  indeed  they  are,  the 
Time  Vesture  of  the  Eternal." 

This  book  is  the  struggle  of  a  soul  with  temptations  and 
doubt,  a  warfare  against  the  powers  of  evil,  and  a  seeking  for 
the  truth.  It  is  an  allegory  and  it  has  a  power  and  a  grandeur 
not  found  in  that  beautiful  and  simple  classic,  Pilgrims' 
Progress. 

He  tells  us  of  an  idyllic  childhood  that  we  have  all  experi- 
enced when  he  says  "time  is  no  fast  hurrying  stream,  but  a 
sportful  sun-lit  ocean,  and  we  sleep  danced  around  by  sweetest 
dreams,"  and  we  now  have  what  is  ever  after  denied  us  "the 
balm  of  rest."  Yet  among  the  rainbow  colors  that  glowed  on 
the  horizon  was  the  dark  ring  of  care  that  ever  grew  broader 
and  broader.  He  learned  then  the  meaning  of  Death,  and  we 
have  the  following  fine  passage : 

"The  dark  bottomless  Abyss,  that  lies  under  our  feet,  had 
yawned  open;  the  pale  Kingdoms  of  Death,  with  all  their  in- 
numerable silent  nations  and  generations  stood  before  me; 
the  inexorable  word,  Never!  now  first  showed  its  meaning. 
My  mother  wept,  and  her  sorrow  got  vent;  but  in  my  heart 
there  lay  a  whole  lake  of  tears,  pent  up  in  silent  desolation. 
Nevertheless,  the  unworn  Spirit  is  strong;  Life  is  so  healthful 
that  it  even  finds  nourishment  in  Death;  these  stern  experi- 
ences, planted  down  by  memory  in  my  imagination,  rose  there 
to  a  whole  cypress-forest,  sad  but  beautiful ;  waving,  with  not 
unmelodious  sighs,  in  dark  luxuriance,  in  the  hottest  sunshine, 
through  long  years  of  youth ;  as  in  manhood  also  it  does,  and 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  117 

will  do ;  for  I  have  now  pitched  my  tent  under  a  cypress  tree ; 
the  Tomb  is  now  my  inexpugnable  fortress,  ever  close  by  the 
gate  of  which  I  look  upon  the  hostile  armaments,  and  pains 
and  penalties,  of  tyrannous  Life  placidly  enough,  and  listen 
to  its  loudest  threatenings  with  a  still  smile.  Oh,  ye  loved 
ones,  that  already  sleep  in  the  noiseless  Bed  of  Rest,  whom 
in  life  I  could  only  weep  for  and  never  help ;  and  ye,  who  wide- 
scattered  still  toil  lonely  in  the  monster-bearing  Desert,  dye- 
ing the  flinty  earth  with  your  blood — yet  a  little  while,  and 
we  shall  all  meet  there,  and  our  Mother's  bosom  shall  screen 
us  all;  and  oppressions  harness,  and  Sorrow's  fire-whip,  and 
all  the  Gehenna  Bailiffs  that  patrol  and  inhabit  ever-vexed 
time,  cannot  thenceforth  harm  us  any  more." 

Teufelsdrockh,  the  philosopher  whose  sayings  and  reflec- 
tions make  the  book,  is  thought  by  many  to  be  modeled  after 
Jean  Paul  Frederick  Richter.  He  is  close  akin  to  Faust,  too. 
He  was  imbued  with  the  Book  of  Job.  He  is  not  unlike  Tenny- 
son in  Locksley  Hall,  Maud,  Sir  Gallahad  and  the  Idyls  of  the 
King. 

Life  to  him  had  been  but  disappointment  and  bitterness. 
His  cup  of  sorrow  had  run  over  "and  hissed  over  in  a  deluge 
of  foam."  But  in  the  wild  solitude  of  gorge  and  mountain 
peak  he  feels  the  throb  of  nature's  heart.  There  in  the  twi- 
light he  looked,  as  he  expresses  it,  upon  "a  hundred  and  a 
hundred  savage  peaks  in  the  last  light  of  day;  all  glowing  of 
gold  and  amethyst,  like  giant  spirits  of  the  wilderness."  "And 
as  the  ruddy  glow  was  fading  into  clearness  in  the  sky,  and 
the  Sun  had  now  departed,  a  murmur  of  Eternity  and  Im- 
mensity, of  Death  and  of  Life,  stole  through  his  soul ;  and  he 
felt  as  if  Death  and  Life  were  one,  as  if  the  Earth  were  not 
dead,  as  if  the  Spirit  of  the  Earth  had  its  throne  in  that 
splendor,  and  his  own  spirit  were  therewith  holding  com- 
munion." 

But  as  yet  this  philosopher  had  no  lode  star  of  faith;  no 
pillar  of  cloud  by  day  nor  pillar  of  fire  by  night  to  guide  him 
in  the  wilderness  of  doubt  and  temptation.  There  was  no 
life-warmth  to  heal  the  stab  of  false  Friendship  and  of  false 
Love.     "Well  might  he  exclaim  in  his  wild  way  Ts  there  no 


118  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

God  then,  but  at  best  an  absentee  God,  sitting  idle  ever  since 
the  first  Sabbath,  at  the  outside  of  his  Universe,  and  seeing 

it  go?'" 

According  to  Carlyle,  in  this  book,  the  Religion  and  poli- 
tics of  his  day  had  all  been  figured  up  in  a  ledger  of  profit  and 
loss.  The  pharasaical  happiness  of  an  approving  conscience 
and  residence  in  the  Celestial  City  were  now  the  rewards  of 
duty.  The  Devil  said  to  him,  too,  "Behold  thou  art  fatherless, 
outcast,  and  the  Universe  is  mine."  To  which  he  replied,  "I 
am  not  thine,  but  free,  and  forever  hate  thee." 

And  then  he  was  possessed  of  strength  and  all  shams  and 
pretenses,  and  hypocricies,  and  cant,  and  lies  and  commands 
to  conform  thereto,  he  despised  and  condemned  and  defied. 
He  wandered  over  the  earth  to  learn  wisdom  and  to  solve  the 
mysteries  of  life.  He  moistened  his  bread  in  the  clear  lakelet 
of  the  Pine  Chasms  of  Vaucluse.  He  sat  under  the  palm  trees 
of  Tadmor;  he  smoked  his  pipe  among  the  ruins  of  Babylon; 
he  saw  Napoleon's  Armies  and  heard  "the  tramp  of  embattled 
hosts  and  the  sounds  of  falling  cities";  he  stood  upon  the 
cliffs  of  the  uttermost  North,  and  listening  to  "the  peaceable 
gurgle  of  that  slow-heaving  Polar  Ocean,"  saw  the  sun  at  mid- 
night in  his  "cloud  couch  wrought  of  crimson  and  cloth  of 
gold."  He  heard  kings  speak  to  Parliaments,  and,  disguised 
as  a  tavern  waiter,  stood  behind  the  chairs  of  the  wise  men 
and  heard  things  that  he  did  not  forget.  "Fool,"  exclaims  he, 
"why  journeyest  thou  to  gaze  on  the  stone  pyramids  of 
Geezer  or  the  clay  ones  of  Saccahara?  *  *  *  "  I  will  open 
my  Hebrew  Bible. 

In  looking  at  the  Universe  he  realized  the  littleness  of 
man.  But  he  heard  the  God-given  mandate,  "Work  thou  in 
well  doing."  This  command  comes  to  every  one.  It  is  mys- 
teriously written  in  prophetic  characters  in  every  heart.  If 
heard  you  must  be  carried  of  the  spirit  into  grim  solitudes, 
there  to  do  grimmest  battle  with  the  Tempter.  But,  as  he 
says,  "Our  wilderness  is  the  wide  world  in  an  atheistic  cen- 
tury." "Yes,"  says  he,  "to  me  also  *  *  *  it  was  given 
after  weariest  wandering  to  work  out  my  way  into  the  higher 
sunlit  slopes  of  that  mountain  which  has  no  summit  or  whose 
summit  is  in  Heaven  only." 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  119 

This  he  maintains  comes  from  the  sacrifice  and  the  anni- 
hilation of  self.  It  is  the  renunciation  taught  by  Goethe,  and 
a  greater  than  Goethe  said,  "he  that  loseth  his  life  for  my 
sake  shall  find  it."  The  conclusion  is  that  there  is  in  man 
something  higher  than  happiness.  It  is  Blessedness  and  to 
preach  this  Higher,  "sages  and  martyrs,  the  poet  and  the 
priests  in  all  time  have  spoken  and  suffered,  bearing  testimony 
through  life  and  through  death,  of  the  God-like  that  is  in 
man. 

To  Carlyle  the  creed  was  the  temporal  manifestation,  the 
imperfect  expression  of  the  Eternal,  the  Spiritual.  The  old 
church  clothes,  the  old  symbols  of  faith  to  him  had  worn  out ; 
the  life  had  gone  out  of  them.  The  authentic  church  cate- 
chism of  the  present  century  had  not  appeared.  These  sym- 
bols of  religion  and  faith  are  ever  changing  and  evolving  into 
higher  and  finer  forms.  The  forms  and  ceremonies  are  not 
divine,  and  all  the  dogmatic  declarations  of  ecumenical  coun- 
cils can  not  make  them  so.  He  rejected  the  dogmas  of  the 
past  like  Him  who  preached  the  simple  and  universal  and 
eternal  gospel  of  the  Samaritan  woman  at  the  well  and  told 
her  that  His  worship  was  confined  to  no  temple  and  defined 
by  no  creed. 

As  the  old  vesture  wears  out  and  fades  the  new  is  weav- 
ing with  finer  fibre.  Says  he,  "In  that  whirlwind,  creation  and 
destruction  proceed  together.  Ever  as  the  ashes  of  the  old 
are  mysteriously  blown  about  do  organic  filaments  of  the  new 
mysteriously  spin  themselves.  Tones  of  the  melodious  death 
song  are  but  tones  of  a  more  melodious  birth  song."  "The 
Phoenix  soars  aloft,  hovers  with  outstretched  wings,  filling 
earth  with  her  music ;  or,  as  now,  she  sinks  and  with  spheral 
swan-song  immolates  herself  in  flame,  that  she  may  soar  the 
higher  and  sing  the  clearer." 

If  I  have  given  a  glimpse  of  this  book,  it  is  all  that  I  could 
hope  for.  It  did  not  meet  with  favor.  It  was  something  new. 
The  English  intellect  did  not  readily  grasp  its  meaning.  At 
first  it  was  unnoticed.  Then  it  provoked  opposition  and  ridi- 
cule. America  furnished  its  first  disciple,  Emerson.  Years 
afterwards  when  the  thinkers  of  the  world  were  bowing  to 


120  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

the  genius  of  Carlyle,  he  esteemed  Ralph  Waldo  the  finest  and 
purest  of  them  all. 

Sartor  Resartus  brought  its  author  but  little  money. 
Though  distressingly  poor  he  went  to  London  and  began  his 
history  of  the  French  Revolution.  The  wild  tornado  in  which 
the  French  Monarchy  had  perished  was  to  him  an  illustration 
of  the  Universal  Law.  He  looked  at  this  mighty  phenomenon 
in  the  light  of  the  Old  Testament  as  he  had  heard  it  read  and 
interpreted  from  the  Presbyterian  pulpit.  He  had  ceased  to 
believe  in  miracles  according  to  their  accepted  significance, 
and  had  cast  off  the  form  of  his  creed,  but  the  lesson  of  his 
youth  was  never  forgot.  It  was  the  germ  of  his  philosophy. 
He  believed  that  all  nations  lived  under  one  dispensation ;  that 
God  dealt  with  all  peoples  as  He  did  with  the  Children  of 
Israel;  that  His  Law  is  ever  divinely  beautiful  and  divinely 
terrible ;  delivered  from  Sinai  or  from  any  other  mountain  or 
place  it  must  be  obeyed.  The  people  that  puts  the  greed  of 
gain  or  the  pleasure  of  iniquity  above  the  Law  of  Right- 
eousness will  be  punished.  Of  modern  nations,  France  was 
the  greatest  sinner.  The  rich  lived  in  idleness  and  luxury, 
while  the  poor  toiled  and  suffered.  French  society  was  based 
on  the  lie  of  the  inheritance  of  rights  and  privileges  without 
the  corresponding  sacrifice  and  fulfillment  of  duty.  The 
Eternal  Law  was  forgotten.  The  Papal  nuncio  esteemed  it  an 
honor  to  get  upon  his  knees  and  tie  the  slipper  on  the  foot  of 
a  harlot,  and  Majesty  itself  waited  obsequeously  on  her  glance. 
France  was  guilty.  Judgment  was  pronounced  "in  a  horror 
of  great  darkness  and  shakings  of  the  world  and  a  cup  of 
trembling  which  all  nations  must  drink."  In  the  punishment 
of  iniquity  the  Revolution  was  inexorably  just.  But  its  theory 
of  Equality  was  false.  The  Contract  Social  a  humbug.  The 
guilty  had  been  punished  but  the  new  order  of  things  must 
necessarily  result  in  anarchy.  Napoleon  or  another  despot, 
was  inevitable.  Carlyle  was  not  a  democrat;  he  did  not  be- 
lieve that  the  people  could  govern  themselves,  but  that  they 
must  be  governed.  To  enthrone  the  ablest  man  was  with  him 
the  ideal  of  all  social  procedure,  but  he  did  not  believe  that  a 
man  could  be  made  a  king  by  putting  a  crown  on  his  head. 
He  believed  in  the  aristocracy  of  worth,  but  as  between  the 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  121 

dissolute  aristocracy  of  France  and  the  sans-culotte  he  was  a 
sans-culotte.  Consider  this  passage:  When  Camille  De- 
mouslins  is  about  to  be  executed  and  Foquier  asked  the  formal 
questions,  What  is  your  name,  age,  and  the  like?"  Camille 
makes  answer:  "  *  *  *  My  age  is  that  of  the  bon  sans- 
culotte Jesus;  an  age  fatal  to  Revolutionists.  O  Camille,  Ca- 
mille! And  yet  in  that  Divine  Transaction,  let  us  say,  there 
did  lie,  among  other  things,  the  fatalest  reproof  ever  uttered 
here  below  to  Worldly  Right — honorableness." 

I  would  not  call  his  a  history  of  the  French  Revolution. 
It  is  a  reproduction  of  the  principal  scenes  of  the  Revolution, 
a  mighty  moving  picture,  with  the  voice  of  life.  We  see  the 
horrors  of  the  death  bed  of  Louis  XV;  we  hear  the  rush  of 
courtiers  across  the  (Eil-de-Bcef  to  hail  the  dauphin  and 
dauphiness  King  and  Queen.  It  is  the  doomed  young  Louis 
XVI  and  the  Imperial  Marie  Antoinette.  They  fall  on  their 
knees  and  exclaim,  "Oh,  God,  guide  us;  protect  us.  We  are 
too  young  to  reign."  Amid  wild  shouting  multitudes  we  look 
upon  the  procession  of  the  State's  General  from  the  Church 
of  St.  Louis  to  Notre  Dame.  We  recognize  the  faces  of  men 
and  women  who  will  live  long  in  history.  We  hear  the  voice 
of  Mirabeau,  the  world  compeller,  rise  into  "far-sounding 
melodies  of  strength"  as  he  mounts  the  Tribune  and  shakes 
his  lion  mane.  We  see  France  girt  with  fire  and  sword.  The 
armies  of  the  Imperial  allies  are  marching  upon  Paris.  Dan- 
ton  descends  from  the  Mountain  like  a  lava  flood.  He  rears 
his  huge  stature,  with  clenched  fist,  his  voice  reverberating 
from  the  domes,  with  a  defiance  that  startles  the  world  and 
terrifies  kings,  he  exclaims:  "The  coalesced  kings  threaten 
us.  We  hurl  at  their  feet  as  gage  of  battle  the  head  of  a 
king." 

All  France  is  electrified.  We  see  the  banner,  "Patre  est 
en  denger,"  flying  from  all  the  steeples.  A  mother  leads 
proudly  her  first  born  son  by  the  hand  and  goes  away  weep- 
ing when  told  that  he  is  too  young  to  be  enrolled  as  a  soldier 
of  the  Republic.  Traitors  within  and  foes  without.  France 
blazes  up,  fired  by  this  wild  energy  of  Danton.  In  the  travail 
of  Revolution  unconquerable  armies  leap  from  her  womb. 
Thus  we  see  the  Revolution  in  all  the  details  of  reality— in 


122  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

fire  and  storm  and  horror.  Orgies  and  massacres  and  guillo- 
tines, insurrection  and  the  crashing  of  ancient  institutions 
pass  in  our  view.  In  1836  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Carlyle :  "It  all 
stands  pretty  fair  in  my  head,  nor  do  I  mean  to  investigate 
much  more  about  it,  but  to  splash  down  what  I  know  in  large 
masses  of  color,  that  it  may  look  like  a  smoke-and-flame  con- 
flagration in  the  distance,  which  it  is." 

When  this  book  was  published  its  triumph  was  complete. 
Dickens  carried  it  in  his  pocket  as  if  it  were  his  Bible.  Tenny- 
son sought  the  company  of  its  author.  Arnold,  of  Rugby, 
commended  it.  Thackeray  reviewed  it  in  the  highest  terms, 
and  Macaulay  bore  testimony  to  its  genius.  The  pulpit  still 
criticised,  from  the  hedges  of  obscurity,  some  reviewers  threw 
stones,  but  the  primacy  of  Carlyle  was  established  by  the 
decree  of  the  "Conscript  Fathers." 

All  the  books  that  Carlyle  wrote  are  fine;  you  might  say 
the  finest.  His  great  books  are  Sartor  Resartus,  French  Revo- 
lution, Past  and  Present,  Oliver  Cromwell,  Frederick  the 
Great;  and  you  might  name  among  these  Heroes  and  Hero 
Worship.  Each  one,  not  only  sustained,  but  added  to  his 
reputation.  He  spoke  and  wrote  the  truth  as  he  saw  it.  He 
despised  the  prejudices  of  his  age  and  spoke  with  authority 
to  rulers  and  law-givers.  For  long  years  he  struggled — 
crushing  years.  But  in  his  own  lifetime  he  triumphed.  His 
books  were  translated  into  all  the  languages  of  the  civilized 
nations.  He  was  acknowledged  to  be  the  first  writer  of  the 
age. 

Carlyle's  style  was  new.  Many  thought  that  it  was  af- 
fected. He  was  not  a  phrase-maker.  He  had  no  art  for 
giving  graceful  expression  to  current  opinions.  His  thoughts 
burned  within  him,  and  without  regard  to  form  or  the  rules 
of  rhetoric  he  attempted  to  speak  to  others.  His  words  are 
full  of  meaning;  his  sentences  rugged,  glowing  with  reality. 
They  come  sometimes  like  stars  from  the  white  iron  wrought 
upon  the  anvil,  and  he  is  a  Titan  and  wields  the  hammer  of 
Thor. 

Carlyle  and  Herbert  Spencer  are  the  potential  forces  of 
this  epoch.  The  one  was  a  seer;  the  other  a  logician.  Car- 
lyle's "method  is  not  in  any  case  that  of  common  school  Logic, 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  123 

where  the  truths  all  stand  in  a  row,  each  holding  by  the 
skirts  of  the  other ;  but  at  best  that  of  practical  Reason,  pro- 
ceeding by  large  intuition  over  whole  systematic  groups  and 
kingdoms." 

Spencer,  all  comprehensive,  taught  by  synthesis  the  ever- 
lasting evolution  of  all  things.  Carlyle  by  the  generalization 
of  genius  taught  the  evolution  of  man's  institutions,  political 
and  ecclesiastical,  civil  and  ritualistic.  The  vast  diffusion  of 
Force — the  law  and  will  of  the  Universe — was  named  by 
Spencer  the  Unknown ;  by  Carlyle,  God.  He  contended  for  no 
dogmas;  he  taught  no  creed.  He  called  men  back  to  the 
eternal  verities.  Confessions  of  faith  and  civil  institutions 
are  essential,  but  they  wear  out.  The  Vedas,  the  Korans,  the 
Zend  Avestas  had  once  taught  men  the  way  of  life.  The  old 
myths  were  once  true,  the  old  allegories  had  a  meaning,  but 
in  the  evolution  of  life  the  old  forms  must  pass,  for  old  bottles 
will  burst  with  new  wine.  Buddah,  Odin,  Mahomet,  were  to 
him  not  imposters ;  they  were  great  and  earnest  teachers ;  the 
supreme  manifestation  of  the  Divine  was  in  Him,  of  Nasa- 
reth,  the  music  of  whose  life  has  appealed  for  nineteen 
hundred  years  to  the  hearts  of  men.  He  was  a  Puritan  with- 
out a  creed.  He  was  not  a  Levite,  but  a  priest  after  the  order 
of  Melchizedek.  He  was  a  seer  who  beheld  the  apocalypse  of 
Nature.  He  knew  that  Might  is  the  Right  that  must  prevail, 
that  a  lie  can  not  live,  that  Truth  and  Justice  are  as  powerful 
as  the  Almighty.  He  sang  the  epic  of  man's  battlings  and  his 
triumphs.  Sometimes  he  rings  the  Angelus  Bells;  and  then 
in  the  twilight,  over  peaceful  meadow  and  golden  field,  we 
hear  the  tones  of  everlasting  love  and  forgiveness ;  sometimes 
he  sounds  the  blast  of  the  trumpet  of  the  Day  of  Judgment, 
and  in  the  tempest,  amid  the  tumult  of  the  thunders,  from 
blackness  the  wrath  of  God  is  poured  out  in  fire. 

In  1854  a  number  of  the  students  of  Glasgow  had  urged 
Carlyle  as  Rector  of  that  University,  but  he  was  scornfully 
rejected  on  account  of  his  religious  views.  In  1855  a  like 
attempt  was  made  by  the  students  of  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh, with  like  result. 

After  the  publication  of  Frederick  the  Great,  in  1865,  he 
was  triumphantly  elected  Rector  of  the  University  of  Edin- 


124  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

burgh,  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Disraeli.  He  had  changed  none  of 
his  opinions,  had  modified  none  of  his  views,  but  now  the 
leaders  of  sects  were  proclaiming  him  as  the  champion  of 
their  faith.  Carlyle  accepted  this  honor  from  his  alma  mater, 
and  in  1868  delivered  the  inaugural  address.  He  was  the 
same  Carlyle  whom  they  had  denounced  as  an  infidel.  He 
preached  the  same  doctrine,  but  now  with  universal  acclaim 
he  was  recognized  as  the  intellectual  and  moral  force  of  the 
century  and  as  the  prophet  of  the  living  faith.  His  thoughts 
and  his  teaching  are  now  proclaimed  by  the  greatest  preachers 
from  orthodox  pulpits. 

The  masters  in  painting  and  sculpture  vied  with  one  an- 
other to  preserve  for  future  generations  his  form  and  the 
features  of  that  rugged  sorrowful  face,  and  the  great  of  the 
world  "with  burnt  offerings"  acknowledged  him  a  teacher 
who  spoke  with  authority.  But  he  was  yet  the  plain  and 
simple  son  of  the  Peasant  of  Ecclefechan. 

Disraeli  offered  him  a  baronetcy  or  to  confer  upon  him 
the  highest  distinction  for  merit  within  the  gift  of  the  Crown 
— the  Grand  Cross  of  the  Bath.  The  great  Prime  Minister  at 
the  same  time  insisted  that  he  should  accept  a  royal  pension. 
With  courtesy  and  with  delicate  appreciation  Carlyle  declined 
both.  A  royal  bounty  and  titles  of  nobility  were  out  of  keep- 
ing with  the  meaning  of  his  life,  for  he  had  preached  a  gospel 
to  the  poor  and  denied  with  all  his  vehemence  the  claims  of 
princes  and  dukes  and  lords.  To  his  brother  he  wrote:  "You 
would  have  been  surprised,  all  of  you,  to  have  found  un- 
expectedly your  poor  old  brother  converted  into  'Sir  Tom'; 
but,  alas !  there  was  no  danger  at  any  moment  of  such  a  catas- 
trophe." He  said  to  his  friend:  "The  Grand  Cross  would  be 
like  a  cap  and  bells  to  me." 

He  was  steadfast  to  the  reality  and  simplicity  of  that 
plain  Scotch  home.  He  never  forgot  the  Sundays  in  the  old 
days  "with  mother,  father  and  the  rest  getting  dressed  for 
the  meeting  house." 

When  his  genius  had  commanded  the  admiration  of  wise 
men  and  princes,  when  nations  were  his  pupils  and  his 
praisers,  he  wrote  in  his  private  Journal:  "0  pious  Mother! 
kind,  good,  brave  and  truthful  soul  as  I  have  ever  found,  and 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  125 

more  than  I  have  elsewhere  found  in  this  world.  Your  poor 
Tom,  long  out  of  his  schooldays  now,  has  fallen  very  lonely, 
very  lame  and  broken  in  this  pilgrimage  of  his ;  and  you  can- 
not help  him  or  cheer  him  *  *  *  any  more.  From  your 
grave  in  Ecclefechan  yonder  you  bid  him  trust  in  God;  and 
that  also  he  will  try  if  he  can  understand  and  do." 

He  has  been  criticized  for  many  minor  faults,  but  in  the 
weightier  matters  of  the  law  he  was  without  a  blemish.  His 
life  was  frugal  and  pure.  When  in  old  age  his  books  had 
earned  him  an  abundance  of  money  he  enjoyed  no  luxury  but 
charity. 

Dean  Stanley  requested  that  he  be  buried  at  Westminster 
Abbey.  Carlyle  had  anticipated  this  and  by  his  direction  his 
body  was  carried  to  the  rural  churchyard  at  Ecclefechan, 
there  to  lie  with  his  humble  kin,  who  slept  "under  their  white 
memorial  stones  in  hope  of  a  happy  resurrection."  With  no 
pomp  nor  ceremonial  the  greatest  born  of  Scotland  was  laid 
to  rest  in  her  bosom. 

His  heart  was  of  melting  pity,  and  fiery  wrath  and  all 
embracing  love.  And  his  voice,  too,  fashioned  there  in  that 
home  of  faith  and  earnestness  already  reaches  "like  a  great 
elegy,  like  a  stern  prophecy,"  like  a  triumphant  battle-hymn 
to  the  ends  of  the  world. 


126  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

ACCEPTING  DEMOCRATIC  NOMINATION 
FOR  GOVERNOR 

(Raleigh,  N.  C.,  June  6th,  1912) 

NOTE:  The  Convention  of  1908  was  held  in  Charlotte.  Locke 
Craig  and  W.  W.  Kitchin  were  candidates  for  Governor.  Special  trains 
were  run  from  all  over  Western  North  Carolina,  bearing  enthusiastic 
Craig  supporters.  The  east,  however,  held  that  Governor  Glenn,  of 
Winston-Salem,  was  a  representative  of  the  west,  and  they  were  en- 
titled to  the  nominee.  By  a  close  vote,  W.  W.  Kitchin,  of  Scotland 
Neck,  received  the  nomination.  This  caused  the  keenest  disappoint- 
ment among  the  western  delegates,  especially  the  Tenth  District,  from 
which  there  had  been  no  Governor  since  Vance.  When  the  convention 
subsided,  after  the  result  of  the  vote  was  declared,  there  were  calls 
everywhere  for  Locke  Craig,  the  "Little  Giant  of  the  Mountains."  It 
is  to  be  regretted  that  no  report  can  be  found  of  his  speech,  but  those 
who  heard  him  said  it  was  the  finest  of  his  career.  He  showed  no 
pique  in  the  hour  of  his  defeat,  but  with  an  unselfish  and  patriotic 
spirit,  swept  all  bitterness  among  his  adherents  aside,  and  with  a 
voice  ringing  clear  for  party  unity,  he  called  upon  the  west  to  give  to 
the  Democratic  nominee  the  full  strength  of  their  support.  And  from 
that  time  on  until  the  final  victory  in  November,  when  William  Walton 
Kitchin  was  elected  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  Locke  Craig  advo- 
cated his  candidacy  in  speeches  all  over  the  State. 

Four  years  later,  in  June,  1912,  Locke  Craig  was  nominated  Gov- 
ernor by  acclamation  in  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  and  harmonious 
Conventions  the  Democratic  Party  ever  held  in  North  Carolina. 

The  following  extracts,  clipped  from  The  News  and  Observer,  of 
Raleigh,  June  6,  1912,  give  an  idea  of  the  enthusiasm  which  pre- 
vailed : 

When  the  State  Democratic  Convention  caught  a  breath 
at  midnight  and  looked  back  upon  its  first  twelve  hours  of 
work,  it  had  seen  Locke  Craig  chosen  as  its  nominee  for  Gov- 
ernor in  one  of  the  most  remarkable  testimonials  of  affection, 
and  his  running  mate,  E.  L.  Daughtridge,  as  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  after  five  of  the  warmest  ballots  of  many  conven- 
tion years. 

It  had  seen  more.  It  had  watched  every  reference  to 
Charles  Brantley  Aycock  made  in  the  most  reverential  way 
and  hundreds  give  their  pledge  that  if  he  had  lived,  he  would 
have  claimed  their  homage  in  life  as  he  has  done  in  death. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  127 

But  one  other  time  has  there  been  a  nomination  tendered 
a  great  public  servant  upon  terms  of  such  affection  as  this 
prize  went  to  the  gallant  man  of  the  west.  And  then  it  went 
to  the  eloquent  man  of  the  east,  Charles  B.  Aycock,  the  be- 
loved dead,  whose  memory  was  tenderly  and  sweetly  brought 
to  the  convention  in  a  score  of  speeches  and  records  yesterday. 
That  was  twelve  years  ago  in  Raleigh,  and  yesterday  was  the 
return  of  the  party  to  the  unity  which  marked  its  choice  of 
Aycock  on  the  eve  of  the  new  century  in  1900. 


That  was  a  mighty  assemblage  that  clamored  for  room 
yesterday  at  noon.  It  was  made  up  of  the  sum  and  crown  of 
North  Carolina  citizenship.  Ladies  of  Raleigh  and  elsewhere 
occupied  the  right  wing  of  the  upper  gallery  and  the  delegates 
who  came  to  make  their  choice  were  from  among  the  flower 
of  North  Carolina  manhood.  The  politicians  did  not  have  the 
convention.  Business  men  in  every  line  of  commercial  energy 
were  there.  They  occupied  the  floor  as  delegates  and  cast  the 
votes  that  made  law.  They  were  there  in  great  numbers. 
They  came  from  all  sections  and  in  large  numbers.  They 
stopped  big  business  to  get  here,  but  they  came  to  select,  not 
partisan  leaders,  but  to  write  patriotic  measures  into  party 
principles. 

The  excessive  good  nature  of  the  body  did  not  mean  that 
it  came  there  to  enjoy  the  stupid  peace  that  smacks  of  chloro- 
form. There  were  fierce  divisions.  The  sharpest  definitions 
between  men  and  measures  were  drawn.  But  there  was  no 
viciousness  of  attack.  Four  years  ago  Charles  W.  Tillett,  de- 
scribing the  great  Charlotte  Convention,  likened  it  unto  a 
storm  at  sea,  the  waves  rolling  high,  but  the  deep  waters 
below  indicative  of  the  real  patriotism  that  lies  unseen  in 
every  breast. 

It  didn't  look  like  this  was  to  be  said  of  the  body  yesterday. 
It  threatened  to  be  a  dead  calm  until  the  Lieutenant-Governor's 
nomination  was  put  to  the  convention  and  it  took  just  three 
and  a  half  hours  to  make  its  will  known. 

There  was  some  cheering  when  the  name  of  Judge  Winston 
was  proposed  as  Permanent  Chairman,  but  greater  excuse  for 


128  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

joy  was  given  when  the  further  recommendation  was  made 
that  there  be  no  speeches  of  nomination  for  offices  not  con- 
tested, barring  the  Governor's,  of  course. 

This  sweeping  attack  on  convention  oratory  robbed  a  dozen 
men  of  the  glory  of  being  howled  down.  It  included  a  long 
list  of  men  of  State. 

Governor  Glenn  presented  the  Permanent  Chairman,  pay- 
ing fine  tribute  to  him  as  an  aid  in  the  administration  of  which 
Glenn  was  the  head  and  Winston  the  Lieutenant-Governor. 

Governor  Winston  made  a  hundred-word  speech,  the  clos- 
ing words  of  which  were  a  shout  for  action,  "What  is  the  fur- 
ther pleasure  of  this  great,  representative,  North  Carolina 
Democratic  assemblage  ?" 

And  as  he  sat  down,  Governor  Glenn  arose  and  said:  "I 
move  that  the  convention  proceed  to  the  nomination  of  the 
next  Governor  of  North  Carolina."  The  convention  met  the 
motion  with  a  tremendous  shout  as  the  response. 

"The  chair  recognizes  the  gentleman  from  Jackson,  the 
Hon.  Felix  E.  Alley,"  Judge  Winston  said,  "and  the  conven- 
tion will  hear  him  place  in  nomination  the  Hon.  Locke  Craig." 

Again  the  convention  came  to  its  feet  and  cheered  while 
Mr.  Alley  was  making  his  way  to  the  stand.  The  speaker 
began  almost  inaudibly,  the  convention  hearing  him  with  great 
difficulty.    But  he  warmed  nicely  to  it. 

The  warmest  rebuke  that  was  given  was  administered  by 
Chairman  Winston  as  Mr.  Alley  entered  the  closing  para- 
graphs.   He  had  tried  to  protest.    He  was  too  mild. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  I  am  not  delivering  to  you 
a  curtain  lecture,"  he  said  with  a  fire  of  the  eye  that  bade  no 
patience  with  the  unseemly  impatience. 

"But  the  man  who  is  now  speaking  is  naming  the  next 
Governor  of  two  million  people,  and  you  owe  it  to  them  and 
to  your  own  sense  of  decency  to  hear  him  patiently  through." 

What  an  effect  that  lecture  had !  There  was  no  more  noise 
through  that  speech  and  the  mighty  approval  of  the  silent 
many  arose  to  rebuke  the  noisy  few.  The  speech  was  heard 
through. 

Governor  Glenn  then  moved  that  a  committee  be  sent  out 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  129 

to  escort  Governor  Craig  into  the  hall.  On  it  were  named  by 
the  Chairman :  Governor  Glenn ;  S.  L.  Rogers,  State  Simmons 
Manager;  Frank  R.  McNinch,  State  Kitchin  Manager;  Walter 
Clark,  Jr.,  State  Clark  Manager,  and  Edward  E.  Britton,  of 
The  News  and  Observer. 

Then  the  band  raised  the  battle  hymn,  while  Glenn  and 
Craig  marched  in  to  martial  music.  The  Tenth  District  arose 
to  greet  its  favored  and  happy  son.  Every  throat  sounded  its 
tribute.  Louder  and  mightier  it  grew  until  Craig,  boyish, 
small,  humble,  in  the  magnitude  of  his  glory,  stood  before  his 
people.  And  he  didn't  even  smile.  Did  any  of  you  see  him 
four  years  ago  when  he  stood  before  the  State  hosts  in  Char- 
lotte? He  came  up  to  acknowledge  his  gratitude  in  the  hour 
of  defeat.  He  was  just  as  happy,  smiled  more  satisfiedly  and 
pledged  his  energies  more  triumphantly  to  the  great  cause 
than  he  did  yesterday.  Craig  in  defeat  and  Craig  in  victory 
are  a  pair  of  noble  brothers.  And  the  convention  four  years 
ago  swore  that  it  would  name  him  this  year.  It  never  was  so 
happy  in  its  pledge  as  it  was  yesterday  when  it  redeemed 
itself  without  one  discordant  voice. 

Governor  Glenn,  in  presenting  Mr.  Craig,  said.  "I  have 
the  honor  to  conduct  to  this  platform  one  of  the  purest, 
noblest,  manliest  patriots  in  North  Carolina,  your  next  Gov- 
ernor, Hon.  Locke  Craig." 


MR.  CRAIG'S  SPEECH 

I  am  profoundly  grateful  to  the  Democracy  of  North  Car- 
olina. By  this  nomination  for  the  office  of  Governor  you  have 
conferred  upon  me  an  eminent  distinction.  It  comes,  not  to 
my  deserts,  but  from  your  generosity.  Only  once  before  has 
this  nomination  been  made  by  acclamation.  In  the  year  1900 
— a  time  of  storm  and  revolution — the  State  with  one  voice 
demanded  the  leadership  of  Charles  B.  Aycock.  With  the 
zeal  of  a  crusader  he  devoted  his  intellect  and  soul  to  the  task 
we  laid  upon  him.  He  comprehended  its  difficulties  and  its 
grandeur.  In  its  accomplishment  he  was  sublime.  For  the 
first  time  in  more  than  thirty  years  this  convention  meets 


130  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

without  the  guidance  of  his  strength  and  wisdom.  We  hear 
not  the  eloquence  that  thrilled  and  moved  us  to  higher  places. 
There  is  sorrow  and  bereavement  to  all  the  people,  to  those 
who  were  his  neighbors,  and  to  those  who  dwell  in  the  far 
mountains  and  by  the  far  sea.  He  gave  us  a  hope  that  we 
did  not  know.  His  work  and  his  life  is  a  legacy  priceless  and 
imperishable. 

I  wish  that  I  were  worthy  of  this  exalted  honor  and  quali- 
fied for  the  responsibilities  of  the  great  hour.  I  shall  forever 
cherish  this  manifestation  of  your  confidence  and  esteem. 
I  welcome  the  opportunity  for  service  that  quickens  and  calls 
for  all  my  strength  and  more.  If  elected  I  shall  be  the  exe- 
cutive of  all  the  people  regardless  of  race,  or  creed  or  politics. 
I  shall  stand  for  the  policies  that  I  have  professed,  steadfast 
to  the  principles  of  Democracy.  I  shall  devote  myself  to  the 
State  and  to  the  welfare  of  all  her  citizens.  I  know  that  all 
honor  must  eventually  lie  in  the  earnest  and  fearless  and 
conscientious  discharge  of  duty. 

By  placing  in  my  hands  at  this  eventful  time  the  standard 
of  Democracy,  you  have  invested  me  with  a  trust,  of  the  im- 
portance of  which  I  am  conscious.  I  do  promise  to  fulfill  this 
obligation  to  the  limit  of  my  ability,  confident  in  the  right- 
eousness of  our  cause,  and  with  an  unfaltering  faith  that  the 
cause  and  the  principles  for  which  we  have  long  contended 
will  triumph  in  the  conflict  that  is  now  beginning. 

Ours  is  an  epoch  significant  with  human  destiny.  If  we 
would  realize  the  magnificent  possibilities  of  the  future,  we 
must  adjust  our  laws  and  institutions  to  the  conditions  and 
forces  of  modern  progress.  This  is  the  mission  of  our  party — 
the  striving  of  this  fierce,  militant,  progressive  Democracy. 
The  crisis  is  upon  us. 

The  problem  has  been  evolved  and  emphasized  by  this  era 
of  industrial  accomplishment,  unprecedented  and  undreamed 
of.  Like  the  dervish  in  the  Arabian  tale,  man  has  gotten  hold 
of  the  casket  with  the  mysterious  juice  that  reveals  to  him 
the  hidden  treasures.  The  genii,  in  whose  keeping  are  the 
streaming  forces  of  the  universe,  have  whispered  to  him  their 
secrets.     He  has  tamed  and  harnessed  the  steam  and  the 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  131 

lightning,  and  in  obedience  to  his  will  they  exert  for  him  a 
power  greater  than  that  of  all  the  beasts  of  burden  on  the 
earth  combined.  The  world  is  pulsing  with  the  currents  of 
newly  discovered  energy.  All  the  necessities  of  life,  and  all 
that  can  gratify  the  luxurious  desires  of  men  are  created  in 
manifold  abundance  as  with  a  magician's  wand.  Riches  have 
been  piled  up  beyond  conception.  The  gifts  from  Heaven  to 
the  Israelites  in  the  Wilderness  were  niggardly  compared  with 
the  bounty  bestowed  upon  us. 

This  material  development  has  not  been  accompanied  by 
a  corresponding  intellectual  and  moral  development.  Condi- 
tions have  been  wrong.  Has  the  burden  been  lifted  from  the 
shoulders  of  those  who  toil?  Has  the  curse  that  man  should 
eat  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow  been  lessened  one  jot  or 
one  tittle?  Has  there  come  to  all  the  opportunity  and  the 
encouragement  for  the  cultivation  of  nobler  impulses  and  a 
purer  life?  Has  the  moral  status  of  the  individual  been  im- 
proved and  society  lifted  to  a  higher  plane,  or  do  the  "fruits 
of  the  tree  of  knowledge  turn  as  we  grasp  them  to  apples  of 
Sodom  that  crumble  at  the  touch?" 

"Ye  build,  ye  build,  but  ye  enter  not  in, 
Like  the  tribes  whom  the  desert  devoured  in  their  sin." 

The  consciousness  that  there  is  something  wrong,  some- 
thing grievously  unjust,  is  deep  and  universal.  It  is  gather- 
ing strength;  it  will  find  expression;  it  will  seek  a  remedy 
somewhere,  somehow.  John  Ruskin  says  to  England,  and  to 
us,  too:  "Shall  the  Parthenon  be  in  ruins  on  its  rock,  and 
Bolton  priory  in  its  meadow,  but  these  mills  of  yours  be  the 
consummation  of  the  buildings  of  the  earth,  and  their  wheels 
be  as  the  wheels  of  eternity?  Think  you  that  'men  may  come 
and  men  may  go,'  but — mills — go  on  forever?  Not  so,  out 
of  these  better  or  worse  shall  come;  and  it  is  for  you  to 
choose  which."  Let  us  look  in  earnestness.  We  have  failed 
to  adjust  the  law  of  equity  to  new  conditions.  The  law  itself 
has  been  the  bondservant  of  unlimited  extortion  and  insatiable 
greed. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  equilibrium  should  have  been 


132  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

disturbed;  for  this  modern  progress  has  with  such  rapidity- 
reconstructed  the  whole  fabric  of  our  social  organization.  The 
transformation  has  been  wrought  within  the  memory  of  men 
still  living.  Until  our  time  there  had  been  no  essential  change 
in  the  methods  of  industry,  since  the  time  when  Abraham 
looked  upon  the  Pyramids.  The  American  and  the  European 
tilled  their  fields,  manufactured  their  wares  and  transported 
their  merchandise  as  did  the  people  of  Tyre  and  Babylon.  The 
law  that  was  adapted  to  the  simplicity  and  individualism  of 
the  old  order  is  not  sufficient  for  the  complex  organization  of 
the  new  order.  Under  the  old  order,  competition  regulated 
trade.  The  modern  organization  of  industry  has  destroyed 
competition. 

The  law  of  the  spinning  wheel  and  the  stage  coach  does 
not  fit  the  vast  mill,  and  the  locomotive.  In  the  old  bottles 
the  new  wine  is  fermenting,  and  the  new  cloth  is  rending  the 
old  garment.  The  individual  citizen  cannot  protect  himself 
against  the  organized  forces  of  modern  life.  He  cannot  pro- 
tect himself  against  monopoly.  It  is  the  essential  function  of 
government  to  protect  him. 

By  natural  processes  dictated  by  the  spirit  of  enterprise, 
unrestrained  by  law,  stimulated  by  avarice,  these  gigantic 
combinations  have  been  evolved  in  natural  order.  They  con- 
trol every  department  of  industry.  They  have  arbitrary 
power.  They  take  thought  what  we  shall  eat  and  what  we 
shall  drink  and  wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed.  They  deter- 
mine the  cost  of  meat  and  bread,  the  cambric  needle,  the  loco- 
motive, the  plow,  the  wagon,  the  automobile,  the  Parisian 
gown,  the  calico  dress,  the  swallowtail  coat,  the  overall.  The 
price  which  we  must  pay  for  the  necessities  of  life  is  arbi- 
trarily fixed  by  this  despotism  of  monopoly. 

Our  fathers  would  not  tolerate  a  king  because  without 
right  he  levied  a  tax  on  tea.  The  citizen  as  an  individual  is 
powerless.  We  have  seen  these  great  concerns  organized  and 
existing  in  defiance  of  statute  law  and  common  right.  In  the 
broad  light  of  day  we  have  seen  one  conspiracy  after  another 
gather  in  the  earnings  of  labor.  The  Government  has  not 
protected  the  citizen  against  this  extortion;  it  has  protected 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  133 

extortion.  The  law  does  not  restrain  the  extortioner,  it  guards 
every  port  of  entry;  the  merchant  vessels  that  would  lessen 
his  illegitimate  profits  have  been  excluded  as  public  enemies. 
It  has  not  withheld  the  hand  of  the  extortioner,  and  by  its 
statutes  it  has  declared  that  no  one  else  shall  interfere. 

The  fixed  policy  of  the  Republican  Party  has  been  protec- 
tion, protection  for  the  trusts,  or  rather  the  fixed  policy  of 
the  trusts  has  been  protection  for  the  Republican  Party,  the 
agency  by  which  they  exploit  the  people.  This  wall  of  pro- 
tection has  been  raised  higher  and  higher,  not  for  the  purpose 
of  revenue,  but  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  upon  these  con- 
cerns the  power  to  levy  extortion  greater  and  greater.  This 
is  the  only  purpose,  the  only  plausible  pretense  for  our  present 
tariff. 

This  license  to  plunder  has  been  exercised  to  the  limit. 
The  people  of  this  country  are  the  most  industrious,  the  most 
intelligent,  the  most  creative  people  of  the  earth.  Yet  the 
great  body  of  our  workers  receive  as  compensation  for  their 
work  a  smaller  proportion  of  what  they  produce  than  any 
other  people  with  whose  condition  we  are  acquainted.  They 
may  have  more,  but  they  produce  much  more.  They  submit 
to  more  injustice.  The  exactions  of  war  levied  upon  the 
countries  overrun  by  the  armies  of  Ghengis  Khan;  the  vast 
revenue  that  was  gathered  from  all  the  conquered  provinces 
of  the  Roman  Empire  when  there  went  forth  a  decree  from 
Caesar  Augustus  that  all  the  world  should  be  taxed;  or  that 
collected  from  the  kingdoms  of  Europe  in  obedience  to  the 
imperial  edicts  of  Charles  V ;  the  riches  rung  from  the  ancient 
princes  and  people  by  the  rapacity  of  Warren  Hastings,  the 
proconsul  of  India;  or  the  tax  money  paid  by  any  people 
under  any  despotism,  is  insignificant  compared  with  the  in- 
conceivable wealth  taken  from  the  industry  and  genius  of  the 
90,000,000  American  people — not  for  the  purpose  of  govern- 
ment, but  by  the  extortion  of  monopoly  to  swell  the  private 
fortunes  of  the  privileged  few.  This  goes  on  under  laws  and 
constitutions  that  ordain  freedom  and  equality.  In  our  vast 
complicated  social  organism  we  do  not  realize  the  subtle  pro- 
cess, but  we  see  the  monstrous  result. 


134  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

We  would  go  to  war  rather  than  yield  a  penny  contrary  to 
the  accepted  formula  of  our  democracy.  We  would  rise  in 
insurrection  if  any  man  among  us  should  claim  to  be  Sir  John 
or  Lord  Andrew.  On  every  Fourth  of  July  we  march  and  blow 
horns  and  orate,  and  fling  fireworks,  for  on  that  day  it  was 
declared  that  there  should  be  no  tax  on  tea  or  horseshoe 
nails.  The  tax  paid  to  monopoly  on  the  tin  horns  and  the 
flags  and  the  firecrackers  is  greater  and  more  unjust  than  the 
tax  that  our  fathers  went  to  war  about. 

The  burden  of  this  injustice  has  fallen  heaviest  upon  the 
agricultural  sections,  upon  the  men  that  plow  the  fields  of 
the  South  and  the  Northwest.  But,  it  is  levied  upon  the  earn- 
ings of  men  everywhere;  upon  the  miner  that  digs  in  the 
darkness  under  the  ground  by  the  light  of  the  candle  on  his 
cap;  upon  the  women  that  stand  by  the  looms  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  North  Carolina.  It  devours  widows'  houses  and 
spares  not  the  puny  infant  that  suckles  the  dry  breast. 

They  who  profit  by  this  wrong,  and  the  financiers  who 
stand  behind  the  Republican  Party  cry  out  that  business  is 
threatened  whenever  this  wrong  is  attacked.  They  have  in- 
timidated the  country  to  a  long-suffering  submission,  and 
would  now  intimidate  the  country  by  the  threat  to  demoralize 
all  industry  and  precipitate  universal  disaster  if  we  elect  for 
President  a  man  that  would  stop  this. 

The  effect  of  this  legalized  graft  on  economic  conditions 
is  co-existent  with  the  more  serious  effect  upon  moral  con- 
ditions. Opportunity  and  the  encouragement  for  develop- 
ment is  taken  away.  In  this  age  of  genius  and  plenty  it  has 
condemned  men  to  material  and  to  moral  penury;  it  has  com- 
mercialized our  people  and  their  ideals;  it  is  corrupting  our 
citizenship,  and  has  made  money  and  money-getting  the  con- 
suming madness  of  the  age.  It  sends  greed  and  avarice  and 
evil  passions  ravenous  through  society  as  a  hard  winter  drives 
the  wolves  to  the  abodes  of  men.  It  has  been  proclaimed  and 
maintained  in  the  name  of  the  men  who  toil,  in  the  name  of 
prosperity  and  patriotism;  it  has  been  embellished  with  all 
plausibility  and  sophristy,  but  like  the  whitened  supulchre  it 
is  full  of  rottenness  and  dead  men's  bones. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  135 

The  hour  of  awakening  has  come.  The  enlightened  con- 
science of  the  people  has  at  last  been  aroused.  By  half  a  cen- 
tury of  unrighteous  Republican  rule  the  land  was  sowed  with 
dragon  teeth.  The  fierce  contending  factions  have  sprung  up. 
The  Republican  Party  is  torn  by  internecine  war — a  field  of 
Armageddon,  where  Gog  and  Magog,  Taft  and  Roosevelt,  are 
contending  in  their  exposure  of  the  crimes  of  Republican  ad- 
ministrations. Each  is  boasting  of  his  nearness  to  democratic 
teachings  and  denouncing  the  other  for  his  proximity  to  Re- 
publican rascality.  The  Republican  tariff  policy  is  as  dis- 
credited today  as  is  the  Force  Bill  and  Reconstruction.  They 
promised  the  people;  they  promised  the  trusts;  the  day  of 
exposure  and  condemnation  has  come. 

This  country  is  today  humiliated  in  the  eyes  of  all  the 
civilized  nations  by  the  fact  that  a  man  who  was  for  seven 
years  President  of  the  United  States  is  denouncing  to  shout- 
ing multitudes  the  now  President  of  the  United  States  as  a 
timeserver,  a  crook,  a  liar,  a  man  of  dishonor,  a  weakling,  the 
tool  of  bad  men  who  use  him  to  plunder  the  people.  President 
Taft  is  the  man  whom  Roosevelt  after  a  long  and  intimate 
acquaintance  named  as  his  successor.  The  Republican  Party 
in  many  States  and  in  North  Carolina  has  endorsed  this  char- 
acterization of  the  Republican  President,  and  his  adminis- 
tration. 

At  the  outset  of  the  campaign  Roosevelt  announced  that 
he  would  accept  the  nomination  if  tendered.  Now  he  intends 
to  take  it  by  violence.  He  will  run  for  President  if  he  has  to 
destroy  the  Republican  Party,  upset  the  Government,  and 
bankrupt  the  "good  trusts"  that  are  supporting  him,  the  Har- 
vester Trust  and  the  Steel  Trust.  The  Trust  that  will  not 
stand  in  with  this  "practical  statesman"  he  denounces  as  a 
"bad  trust,"  "a  malefactor  of  great  wealth." 

No  man  that  is  honestly  supporting  Roosevelt  and  the 
policies  for  which  he  stands  can  honestly  support  Taft  and  the 
policies  for  which  he  stands.  Roosevelt,  reckless,  violent,  il- 
logical, irresponsible,  represents  the  lawless  insurrection  in 
the  Republican  Party  against  Republicanism ;  a  man  of  power 
and  daring  and  inordinate  egotism  he  would  overthrow  con- 


136  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

stitutional  government,  the  laws  of  the  institutions  which 
are  the  guarantee  of  the  liberty  of  the  English  race,  and 
which  have  been  built  by  a  thousand  years  of  wisdom  and 
sacrifice.  By  the  impassioned  utterance  of  revolutionary  doc- 
trines he  is  winning  the  plaudist  and  the  votes  of  a  large  class 
who  regard  not  our  institutions  and  ideals.  What,  they  ask, 
has  the  Government  done  for  them?  As  they  have  seen  it 
and  felt  it,  favoritism,  not  to  them  but  to  the  few,  has  been 
the  law;  equal  rights  to  all  and  special  privilege  to  none  a 
Fourth  of  July  mockery.  This  is  the  result  of  Republican 
rule. 

If  we  would  cultivate  a  spirit  of  patriotism  and  loyalty  to 
our  institutions  we  must  see  that  the  law  is  made  and  ad- 
ministered in  justice  to  all  men  alike,  that  this  Republic  is 
worthy  of  the  highest  devotion  and  fealty.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  thousands  of  toilers  prefer  the  daring  rough  rider  who 
promises,  law  or  no  law,  to  "turn  more  of  their  earnings  into 
the  pay  envelope?" 

By  fifty  years  of  misrule,  growing  worse;  by  the  plunder 
of  all  the  people  for  the  benefit  of  the  few,  the  Republican 
Party  has  brought  the  country  to  this  appalling  crisis.  It 
presents  to  us  on  the  one  side  President  Taft,  the  representa- 
tive of  the  same  old  system  of  injustice  and  rottenness  now 
repudiated,  and  against  which  the  people  have  risen  in  con- 
demnation and  universal  revolt ;  on  the  other  side,  Roosevelt. 
He  too  is  responsible  for  present  conditions.  During  his  ad- 
ministration nearly  all  the  trusts  in  the  United  States  were 
organized.  He  forbade  them  not.  They  financed  his  cam- 
paign. He  is  a  "practical  man,"  with  the  mask  of  the  people 
and  the  money  of  Wall  Street,  the  "cestui  qui"  trust  of  the 
trusts.  He  stands  for  personal  despotism.  His  election  would 
be  the  end  of  the  Republic  and  the  breaking  up  of  laws. 

In  this  time  of  confusion  and  injustice  and  threatened 
revolution  the  American  people  must  turn  for  hope  and  safety 
to  the  Democratic  Party ;  the  party  that  is  the  logical,  earnest 
exponent  of  constitutional  government,  and  the  progressive 
thought  of  the  age.  It  is  the  party  that  stands  for  the  liber- 
ation and  for  the  protection  of  the  people  and  all  legitimate 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  137 

enterprise  from  the  men  and  the  organizations  that  prey  upon 
the  public;  it  stands  for  the  punishment  of  the  criminal, 
whether  he  shouts  under  the  red  flag  of  anarchy,  or  whether 
in  treason  at  the  directors'  board  he  conspires  against  the 
general  good;  it  stands  for  the  security  of  property  and  for 
the  rights  of  labor,  for  that  prosperity  which  comes  by  the 
guarantee  of  equal  and  exact  justice  and  for  that  progress 
which  comes  when  the  honest  hope  and  opportunity  to  the 
high  and  to  the  low  are  not  denied ;  it  stands  for  the  govern- 
ment of  law  and  for  the  restoration  of  the  union  to  the  high 
and  holy  purpose  of  human  welfare. 

Though  the  minority  party  it  has  been  the  author  of  the 
constructive  policies  that  have  prevailed.  It  stood  for  the 
restoration  of  the  South,  and  it  was  done.  It  stood  for  the 
settlement  of  the  race  policy,  and  it  was  done.  It  stood  for 
the  control  of  public  service  corporations,  and  it  was  done. 
It  stood  and  stands  for  the  reform  of  the  tariff,  and  against 
the  tyranny  of  the  trusts.  It  stands  against  Taft  and  it 
stands  against  Roosevelt. 

The  ardent  dream  of  the  Democrat  of  yesterday  is  today 
"the  vociferate  voice  of  public  opinion"  and  tomorrow  the 
Charter  of  the  Nation.  Democracy  is  everywhere  advancing, 
united,  determined,  as  never  before.  The  victory  of  1910  was 
the  promise  of  the  triumph  of  1912. 

In  this  crisis  of  the  nation's  life  the  Democratic  Party  has 
the  greatest  responsibility  of  its  history.  If  the  Republic  is 
to  be  saved,  the  Democratic  Party  must  save  it.  Roosevelt 
and  the  Rough  Riders  are  crossing  the  Rubicon.  If  we  are 
to  have  a  Caesar,  let  us  have  one  that  at  least  can  represent 
the  grandeur  of  the  American  people.  The  Romans  had 
Julius,  the  English  had  Cromwell,  the  French  had  Napoleon. 
Do  "we  want  Teddy  ?"  Not  yet.  Not  yet  will  we  forsake  the 
ideals  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  for  Roosevelt.  Let  him 
run.  The  descendants  of  the  men  of  Lexington  and  Kings 
Mountain  will  teach  mankind  another  lesson  in  Democracy. 

When  in  calmness  we  review  our  history  all  good  people 
must  rejoice  that  in  recent  years  the  Democratic  Party  has 
controlled  this  State.  This  feeling  must  come  to  all,  regardless 
of  politics. 


138  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

In  1900,  the  era  of  bitterness  and  strife  and  shame  was 
succeeded  by  the  era  of  security  and  prosperity  and  peace. 
The  State  entered  upon  a  career  of  material  and  moral  and 
intellectual  development  unprecedented  in  her  history.  She 
was  free.  She  rejoiced  in  her  freedom.  Agriculture  was  in- 
vigorated. The  towns  grew  to  cities.  The  wasting  energies 
of  her  streams  have  been  transformed  to  currents  of  electric 
power.  Mills  for  the  manufacture  of  the  product  of  forest 
and  farm  have  been  built,  the  blast  of  the  locomotive  has 
waked  the  echoes  in  the  remotest  sections.  In  spite  of  the 
restraint  of  unjust  national  law,  and  unjust  transportation 
discrimination,  wealth  has  been  multiplied,  for  enterprise  has 
felt  the  security  of  the  wise  and  honest  administration  of  the 
State  Government.  Never  before  has  there  been  such  a 
moral  awakening,  such  an  intellectual  revival.  An  efficient 
public  school  has  been  opened  to  every  child  in  the  State.  The 
State  institutions  of  learning  are  thronged  with  eager  stu- 
dents and  rank  with  the  very  best  in  the  Union.  The  de- 
nominational colleges  are  flourishing  as  never  before.  The 
dream  of  universal  education  is  about  to  be  realized. 

The  unfortunate  have  been  remembered  in  mercy.  Mag- 
nificent homes  have  been  provided  for  the  insane,  and  schools 
for  the  blind  and  deaf  and  dumb.  The  aged  and  afflicted 
veterans  of  the  Confederacy  have  not  been  forgotten.  Their 
deeds  in  victory  and  in  defeat  are  a  glory  to  the  race,  and  the 
priceless  heritage  of  the  South.  The  Democratic  Party  has 
provided  and  will  provide  for  the  necessities  of  their  declining 
years. 

"When  we  remember  that  the  Democratic  Party  was  the 
Guardian  Angel  of  the  South  in  her  darkest  hours;  that  it 
was  the  Democratic  Party  that  took  the  South  by  the  hand 
in  the  hour  of  desolation  and  lifted  her  up  and  set  her  again 
in  the  house  of  her  fathers — when  we  remember  these  forty 
years — well  may  we  paraphrase  the  adjuration  of  the  faithful 
Hebrew:  'If  I  forgot  thee,  O  Jerusalem,  may  my  right  hand 
forget  its  cunning  and  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my 
mouth!'  *  *  *  The  South  will  be  faithful  to  the  De- 
mocracy !" 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  139 

We  will  never  again  turn  the  State  over  to  the  party  that 
has  the  record  of  186S,  and  1869,  and  the  blacker  record  of 
1895  and  1897. 

Compare  these  two  periods  of  shame  and  disaster  to  the 
unsullied  record  of  every  Democratic  administration  since  the 
war.  We  remember  with  thanksgiving  the  glorious  adminis- 
tration of  Aycock  when  the  State  rose  like  the  Phoenix  from 
the  ashes  of  her  humiliation,  hailed  the  coming  of  the  morn- 
ing, and  poised  herself  for  the  light  of  a  grander  day.  We 
remember  with  pride  the  administration  of  Governor  Glenn, 
notable  for  the  settlement  of  the  temperance  question ;  notable 
too  for  the  courage  and  determination  with  which  he  met  the 
issue  between  the  State  and  the  railroads.  Then  more  was 
done  toward  the  control  of  the  public  service  corporations 
than  Roosevelt  with  all  his  bluster  and  big  stick  has  ever 
done.  We  contemplate  with  satisfaction  and  congratulations 
the  present  administration  of  Governor  Kitchin,  when  the 
government  of  the  State  and  all  of  her  institutions  have  been 
administered  with  economy  and  wisdom  and  honesty  above 
reproach.  In  the  Lower  House  of  Congress  we  have  ten 
Representatives  who  have  been  among  the  foremost  in  the 
great  fight  that  has  been  made  against  special  privileges,  and 
in  the  Upper  House  we  have  Senator  Simmons  and  Senator 
Overman  who  stand  with  fidelity  to  the  interests  of  their  State 
and  their  party,  and  who  have  been  put  forward  by  their 
associates  as  the  ablest  leaders  and  exponents  of  Democracy. 

I  believe  that  North  Carolina  is  beginning  the  era  of  her 
highest  development.  We  have  2,500,000  people  of  pure  Eng- 
lish and  Scotch-Irish  blood.  We  have  no  large  cities.  Ours 
is  a  rural  population,  good,  strong,  farmer  folks.  We  value 
the  men  that  have  built  our  towns  and  cities,  the  men  who 
had  the  ability  and  the  enterprise  to  make  the  Old  North 
State  one  of  the  foremost  in  manufacture  and  commerce,  but 
North  Carolina  is  essentially  a  Farmer  State,  and  the  farm 
is  beginning  to  reveal  the  hope  for  her  finest  life.  Only  a  few 
years  ago  the  home  on  the  farm  was  isolated  and  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  fields  grudgingly  yielded  a  meager  support  for  the 
family.  There  was  no  encouragement  for  the  farmer,  and 
no  opportunity,  on  the  farm,  for  the  farmer's  children. 


140  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

These  conditions  have  changed.  The  increase  of  urban 
population  throughout  the  civilized  world,  and  the  extending 
of  the  markets  have  enlarged  the  demand  and  increased  the 
value  of  the  great  staples.  The  improvement  in  transporta- 
tion has  not  only  added  to  the  profits  of  the  standard  crops, 
such  as  corn  and  cotton,  but  it  has  enabled  the  farmer  to  use 
his  land  for  the  production  of  the  crop  to  which  it  is  best 
adapted.  His  vegetables,  his  strawberries,  his  apples,  his 
cantaloupes,  are  no  longer  limited  to  home  consumption,  but 
are  carried  by  the  lightning  express  to  the  metropolitan  cities, 
and  served  on  the  costly  tables  of  those  who  can  afford  the 
luxury  of  North  Carolina  products.  The  telephone  puts  the 
farmer's  home  in  immediate  communication  with  his  neigh- 
bors, and  with  his  town,  and  with  the  markets  of  the  world. 
The  old  country  road  of  monotonous  mud,  diversified  with 
gulleys  and  boulders,  has  been  replaced  by  the  modern  high- 
way. The  old  road  wasted  untold  energy  and  cost  uncounted 
money.  It  was  a  barrier  to  prosperity  and  culture.  It  is  no 
longer  to  be  tolerated.  The  modern  highway  is  one  of  the 
greatest  modern  instrumentalities  of  opportunity.  It  enriches 
the  soil,  multiplies  the  ears  of  corn,  paints  the  church,  puts 
music  in  the  home,  inspires  the  boy  with  ambition,  clothes  the 
maiden  in  better  taste,  and  puts  a  finer  bloom  upon  her  cheek. 

The  time  has  come  for  the  State  to  adopt  a  policy  for  the 
building  and  improvement  of  the  public  roads  that  will  insure 
a  system  of  modern  highways  to  the  State  and  to  every  com- 
munity in  the  State.  The  old  southern  home  of  chivalry  and 
culture  is  coming  back  with  the  multiplied  opportunities  of 
modern  progress.  The  fertile,  well-tilled  farm,  generous  in 
its  returns,  adorned  by  the  home  of  culture  and  independence, 
is  the  highest  hope  of  a  nation's  life,  and  the  safe-reliance  in 
the  time  of  danger.  Relieve  the  farmer  of  unjust  burdens 
and  the  South  is  the  most  favored  land  of  all  the  earth.  Give 
the  expansive  energy  of  the  American  people  a  fair  chance 
and  their  supremacy  in  arts  and  commerce  will  be  acknow- 
ledged by  all  the  nations. 

Just  government  is  essential  to  all  real  progress.  If  one 
sow  and  another  reap,  the  curse  is  upon  him  that  sows  as 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  141 

well  as  him  that  reaps.  "Thou  shalt  not  steal"  is  not  limited 
to  petty  larceny  of  the  statute.  There  was  no  discrimination 
by  the  Law-Giver  of  Sinai  between  the  footpad  and  the  mil- 
lionaire. The  pillage  of  the  night  is  nothing  to  the  plunder  in 
the  face  of  day. 

If  North  Carolina  would  fulfill  her  obligations  as  a  Sov- 
ereign State  she  must  guarantee  to  all  her  people,  and  to  all 
her  industries  that  opportunity  which  comes  with  justice — 
justice  that  is  "grander  than  benevolence,  more  august  than 
charity."  Let  her  statutes  be  the  law  of  righteousness  for 
the  protection  of  the  weak,  and  for  the  encouragement  of  every 
enterprise  of  field  and  steepled  city.  Let  her  unalterable 
judgment  be  that  property  shall  be  safe;  that  the  rights  of 
those  who  toil  shall  be  sacred;  that  no  monopoly  wherever 
organized  shall  exist  within  her  borders  to  strangle  her  legi- 
timate business,  and  to  despoil  her  children ;  that  her  material 
development  and  her  moral  and  intellectual  development  shall 
proceed  together. 

The  mighty  contest  is  opening,  great  as  any  that  was  ever 
"proclaimed  by  the  trumpet  or  pleaded  by  the  sword";  the 
elemental  forces  are  gathering  for  the  strife.  The  squadrons 
are  marching. 

North  Carolina  has  a  past  that  is  glorified  and  sanctified 
by  heroism  and  martyrdom.  We  are  the  heirs  of  this  in- 
heritance, and  are  for  a  time  the  custodians  of  her  destiny. 
We  lift  up  the  banner  of  equal  justice.  We  will  write  De- 
mocracy not  only  upon  the  leaves  of  her  statutes,  but  in  the 
lives  of  her  people.  We  appeal  to  all  men  who  love  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  past,  and  revere  the  constitution  of  the  fathers ; 
to  the  young  men  especially,  with  the  noble  ardor  and  courage 
of  youth,  to  all  who  hate  unjust  privilege,  who  believe  in  equal 
opportunity  to  men. 

"And  he  who  will  hear  to  him  the  clarions 
of  battle  call." 


PART  II 

MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

OF 

LOCKE  CRAIG 

INCLUDING    A    BRIEF    ACCOUNT   OF    HIS 

INAUGURATION    AT    THE    STATE 

CAPITAL,  JAN.   15TH,   1913 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  146 


THE  WIDOW'S  SON 

"Let  Her  Works  Praise  Her  In  The  Gates" 

(In  Memory  of  the  Mother  of  Locke  Craig  on  his  Inauguration 
As  Governor  of  North  Carolina) 

The  husband  of  her  life  forever  gone, 

Her  fortune  wrecked  in  war;  herself  alone 

Two  tender  sons  to  rear — O  every  day 

Her  heart  must  crush  with  fear  and  dark  dismay ! 

She  faltered  not,  nor  sat  disconsolate ; 

Her  sons  each  side  she  clasped,  full  facing  fate, 

And  guided  straight  to  Wisdom's  Door;  where  youth 

By  teachers  true  are  fired  with  zeal  for  truth, 

Where  eyes  undimmed  gaze  up  the  steepest  height, 

Where  soul  enkindles  soul  to  loftiest  flight. 

O  spirit  pure,  look  down  today  on  earth! 

Men  shout  the  name  of  Craig,  whom  thou  gav'st  birth ; 

He  whom  thou  taught'st  to  face  and  conquer  fate, 

The  widow's  son,  doth  rule  a  mighty  State. 

—GEORGE  TAYLOE  WINSTON. 
Asheville,  N.  C,  Jan.  14,  1913. 

NOTE:  This  beautiful  poem  appeared  in  The  Raleigh  News  and 
Observer,  Wednesday  morning,  January  15th,  the  day  of  the  inaugura- 
tion of  Locke  Craig  as  Governor  of  North  Carolina.  The  writer,  Dr. 
George  T.  Winston,  has  been  a  life-long  friend  of  the  Craig  family, 
and  was  a  boyhood  friend  of  the  Governor's.  He  knew  well  and  greatly 
admired  the  mother  of  Locke  Craig. 


146  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 


THE  INAUGURATION 

NOTE:  Wednesday,  January  15,  1913,  Locke  Craig  was  inaugu- 
rated Governor,  the  oath  of  office  being  taken  about  noon,  in  the  Audi- 
torium at  Raleigh.  The  ceremonies  incident,  began  at  about  eleven 
o'clock,  when  the  Governor-Elect  and  his  escort  left  the  Yarborough 
House,  then  Raleigh's  principal  hotel,  accompanied  by  a  magnificent 
military  escort,  civic  authorities,  local  and  state  committees,  etc.  The 
newspaper  accounts  of  the  ceremony  are  well  worth  preserving,  and 
give  a  graphic  description  of  the  events  leading  up  to  and  including 
the  inauguration,  which  is  always  an  impressive  one  in  North  Carolina, 
but  on  this  occasion,  owing  to  the  good  feeling  that  prevailed  among 
all  classes  of  our  citizenship,  from  the  fact  that  the  new  Governor  was 
the  unanimius  choice  of  the  whole  State,  this  inauguration  was  un- 
usually impressive.  Therefore  the  following  clippings  are  given  below 
as  souvenirs  worth  preserving,  as  well  as  fitting  preliminaries,  leading 
up  to  that  greatest  of  all  the  Governor's  speeches. — his  Inaugural  Ad- 
dress. 

The  Inaugural  Events 

(The  Raleigh  News  and  Observer,  Jan.  15,  1913) 

10:15  to  10:45  A.M. — Escort,   Mayors  and  Press  Committees  assemble 

at  Yarborough  Hotel. 
10:30  A.M. — Receptios    Committee   meets   in   New   Municipal   Building. 
10:50  A.M. — Committees  call  on  Governor-Elect  Craig. 
11:00  A.M. — State  Officers  assemble  at  Yarborough  Hotel. 
10:45  A.M. — Military   and   other   Organizations  form   at   Nash    Square. 
11:15  A.M. — Parade  Moves. 

11:40  A.M. — Parade  passes  Governor's  Mansion. 
12:00       M. — Inaugural  in  Auditorium. 

1:30  P.M. — Review  of  Parade. 

2:30  P.M. — Luncheon  to  Governor  Craig  and  Party. 

7:30  P.M. — Public  Reception  at  Mansion. 

9:00  P.M.  to  1:00  A.M. — Inaugural  Ball  in  Auditorium. 

In  The  Raleigh  Auditorium 

1.  Dixie Third   Regiment   Band 

2.  Prayer Rev.  Dr.  R.  T.  Vann 

3.  America Raleigh   Choral    Society 

4.  Administration  of  Oath  of  Office  to  State  Officers  by  the  Associate 

Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court?  of  North  Carolina. 

5.  Administration  of  Oath  of  Office  to  Hon.  Locke  Craig,  by  the  Chief 

Justice. 

6.  Old  North  State Raleigh  Choral  Society 

7.  Presentation  of  His  Excellency  the  Governor,  by  Hon.  W.  W.  Kitchin. 

8.  Address Governor   Locke   Craig 

9.  Star  Spangled  Banner Raleigh  Choral  Society 

Governor-Elect  Locke  Craig  is  in  the  city.  With  his  party 
from  Asheville  he  arrived  last  night,  the  military  of  that  city 
and  many  citizens  coming  as  an  escort.    Today  at  noon  he  will 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  147 

be  sworn  in  as  Governor  of  the  State  amidst  impressive  cere- 
monies in  the  Auditorium. 

For  this  great  four-yearly  event  in  the  history  of  the  State 
of  North  Carolina,  Raleigh  is  ready  to  give  welcome  to  all  of 
the  visitors.  In  fact,  it  has  welcomed  them  in  great  numbers 
already,  for  in  ever  growing  numbers  they  arrived  in  the  city 
yesterday  and  during  the  night.  Today  they  will  come  by  the 
thousands,  and  with  the  splendid  weather  plus  the  many  at- 
tractive features  of  the  inaugural  exercises,  there  will  be  any- 
where from  20,000  to  25,000  here  to  take  part  in  the  events 
which  surround  the  inauguration  of  Locke  Craig. 

The  City  is  decorated  in  a  most  beautiful  manner  along  the 
line  of  the  parade  over  the  principal  streets.  Great  arches,  in 
United  States  and  State  flags  and  parti-colored  bannerets  span 
the  streets,  and  pennants  on  the  "side  lines"  add  to  the  decor- 
ative features.  Many  thousands  of  people  will  be  on  the 
streets  during  the  parade,  and  with  the  moving  of  the  mili- 
tary, the  music  of  the  bands,  the  rush  of  the  automibiles,  the 
dash  of  the  horses,  and  the  other  features  of  the  big  inaugural 
parade,  the  moving  scene  will  be  one  that  will  impress  itself 
on  the  memory  of  all. 

The  beginning  of  today's  events  properly  began  last  even- 
ing at  7:30  when  on  a  special  train  Governor-Elect  Craig  and 
Mrs.  Craig,  Democratic  State  Chairman  Charles  A.  Webb  and 
Mrs.  Webb,  and  the  guests  who  accompanied  them  arrived  in 
the  city.  The  train  left  Asheville  at  9:00  o'clock  yesterday 
morning  with  the  Asheville  delegation  and  the  Asheville  Mili- 
tary Company  aboard.  At  all  points  along  the  route  there 
were  accessions,  and  at  Greensboro  the  Legislative  Inaugural 
Committee  met  the  Governor-Elect,  while  at  Durham  a  large 
delegation  of  the  citizens,  Reception  and  Escort  Committees 
gave  indications  of  the  warm  welcome  to  be  extended  by 
Raleigh. 

The  arriving  party  last  night  told  of  ovations  given  to 
Governor-Elect  Craig  all  along  the  route.  Time  after  time  he 
was  called  to  the  platform  and  from  the  train  to  shake  hands 
with  delegations  of  citizens.  There  were  demonstrations  of 
this  kind  at  Swannanoa,  Black  Mountain,  Old  Fort,  Marion, 


148  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

Hickory,  Newton,  Statesville,  Salisbury,  Lexington,  Thomas- 
ville,  High  Point,  Greensboro  and  Durham.  Wearing  badges 
showing  they  were  members  of  the  committee  to  escort  him 
to  Raleigh  there  entered  the  train  at  nearly  every  stopping 
point  many  North  Carolina  citizens.  It  was  proof  of  the 
State-wide  interest  in  the  inauguration  of  Locke  Craig. 


Charles  Aycock  saw  the  ultimate  reward  of  Craig.  Stand- 
ing before  a  convention  in  Charlotte  four  years  ago  and  ask- 
ing it  to  nominate  Craig,  he  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
North  Carolina  had  rewarded  him  and  Robert  B.  Glenn,  Cleve- 
land electors,  by  making  each  District  Attorney  and  later  lay- 
ing the  choicest  chance  for  service  before  them,  the  governor- 
ship. "Shall  the  Cleveland  electors  be  rewarded  while  the 
Bryan  electors" — but  he  never  finished  the  sentence.  The 
crowd  cheered  fifteen  minutes.  Of  course  everybody  knew  the 
antithesis.  And  again  when  Aycock  described  his  own  love 
for  Eastern  North  Carolina,  its  broad  fields  and  its  seas,  he 
burst  into  another  beautiful  piece  of  patriotism :  "But  I  love 
the  east  too  much  to  see  it  forever  the  debtor  of  the  west." 
And  again  the  assembly  cheered  like  mad. 

The  west  today  comes  into  its  own.  The  first  time  since 
Vance  was  given  to  the  Commonwealth  does  a  Governor  come 
from  the  heart  of  the  great  hills.  Buncombe,  which  gave  a 
new  word  to  the  language,  today  gives  a  new  Vance  and  a  new 
Aycock  to  the  State.    This  is  the  feeling  everywhere. 

It  is  published  on  the  streets,  but  better,  it  is  written  in 
the  hearts  of  men.  Never  was  such  preparation  made  for  a 
Chief  Executive  in  North  Carolina.  All  over  the  city  pennants, 
streamers,  flags  and  "Welcome  to  Craig"  are  floating  in  the 
glorious  breezes  without  an  equal  in  all  the  atmosphere. 
"What  does  it  mean?"  asked  a  man  yesterday,  who  had  never 
voted  for  Craig  until  November.  "There  never  was  any  such 
business  as  this  before,"  he  declared.  And  he  was  asked  if 
he  didn't  have  the  feeling.    He  said  he  did. 

Locke  Craig  is  made  Governor  today.  It  is  twelve  years 
to  the  day  since  Charles  B.  Aycock  took  the  oath  of  office.  He 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  149 

went  in  Tuesday,  January  15,  1901.  Locke  Craig  comes  in 
Wednesday,  January  15,  1913.  Aycock's  administration  be- 
gan with  a  new  State  Constitution,  a  change  of  political  party, 
a  new  century  and  a  new  duty,  that  of  educating  all  the  peo- 
ple. Locke  Craig  comes  in  with  a  change  of  party  in  the 
nation,  a  new  policy,  and  with  growing  sentiment  for  changes 
in  both  the  State  and  the  National  Constitutions.  He  faces  a 
new  and  a  great  duty,  that  of  putting  all  North  Carolina 
places  in  calling  distance  of  each  other  by  a  system  of  good 
roads. 

Even  the  weather  promises  to  duplicate  its  performance  of 
twelve  years  ago.  A  finer  day  above  and  below,  was  never 
seen.  In  that  connection  it  is  well  to  call  to  mind  the  error  of 
Sunday  which  said  that  Aycock's  administration  began  with 
his  inaugural  in  the  Academy  of  Music.  It  didn't.  It  took 
place  in  the  open  and  the  whole  city  stood  up  and  heard  him. 
This  afternoon  Governor  Craig  speaks  in  the  Auditorium  an 
inclosed  indoors  almost  as  large  as  the  great  outdoors  of  his 
great  predecessor.  So  faithful  has  been  the  similarity  of  their 
careers  that  the  weather  promises  not  to  spoil  the  final  effect 
of  the  ceremonial.    *     *     * 

(The  Asheville  Citizen,  January  16,  1913) 

The  progress  of  the  "Craig  Special"  which  left  Asheville 
at  9:10  yesterday  morning  had  been  in  the  nature  of  a  tri- 
umphant advance  from  the  time  that  the  Governor-Elect  and 
warm  friends  and  admirers  left  the  mountain  metropolis,  but 
it  was  eclipsed  by  the  scenes  enacted  on  the  streets  of  Raleigh 
when  the  inauguration  parade  left  the  Governor's  Mansion 
for  the  Auditorium,  where  the  crowning  feature  of  the  cere- 
mony with  which  Asheville  is  so  prominently  identified,  made 
her  illustrious  citizen  the  Governor  of  the  State.  It  is  con- 
servatively estimated  that  fully  20,000  people  lined  the  streets 
when  the  first  carriage  containing  the  Governor-Elect,  Gov- 
ernor Kitchin,  Chairman  Weaver,  of  the  Inaugural  Com- 
mittee, and  Chairman  Bunn,  of  the  House  Inaugural  Com- 
mittee, moved  away  from  the  Mansion.  Other  carriages  to 
the  number  of  thirty  or  more  followed,  moving  through  two 


150  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

files  of  militia  companies  drawn  up  at  "attention"  on  both 
sides  of  the  streets  leading  to  the  Auditorium.  The  Third 
Regiment  was  represented  by  Company  B,  of  Raleigh;  Com- 
pany C,  Henderson;  Company  D,  Louisburg;  Company  F, 
Franklinton;  Company  H,  Warrenton;  and  Company  M,  Dur- 
ham. 

The  Second  Regiment  sent  Company  E,  Goldsboro;  Com- 
pany F,  Fayetteville ;  and  Company  H,  Clinton.  The  First 
Regiment  sent  sections  of  three  companies  and  the  recently 
formed  Cavalry  Troop  from  Asheville.  The  Third  Regiment 
was  also  represented  by  the  Coast  Artillery,  of  Greensboro, 
and  the  Ambulance  Corps. 

The  parade  advanced  slowly  up  Fayetteville  Street  across 
Capitol  Square  around  West  and  North  Streets  to  Wilmington 
Street,  thence  back  to  the  Square  through  Edenton,  Salisbury 
and  Morgan  Streets  into  Fayetteville  Street,  reaching  the 
Auditorium  shortly  after  11:00  o'clock. 

A  mighty  cheer  rang  from  stage  to  roof  of  the  great 
building  when  Governor  Craig,  accompanied  by  Governor 
Kitchin  and  the  inaugural  party,  advanced  into  the  hall.  The 
great  audience  rose  to  its  feet,  mounted  chairs,  and  cheered 
for  more  than  ten  minutes.  Many  of  the  lavish  decorations 
in  the  building,  including  the  national  colors  and  tri-colored 
streamers,  were  torn  from  their  fastenings  and  waved  aloft. 
The  galleries,  not  to  be  outdone  by  those  on  the  main  floor, 
laid  violent  hands  on  the  festoons  of  evergreens  that  hung 
from  the  giant  girders  within  reach  and  waved  them  as  they 
cheered.  Above  the  tumult  of  the  cheering  could  be  heard 
insistent  cries  of  "Craig!  Craig!  Give  us  Craig,  the  Good 
Roads  Governor!" 

One  old  veteran  who  was  close  to  the  stage  stretched  his 
hands  toward  the  Governor  and  with  tears  streaming  down 
his  cheeks  was  heard  to  say:  "God  bless  you,  Locke.  You 
were  always  the  soldier's  friend." 

Governor  Craig  repeatedly  bowed  his  acknowledgement  as 
the  ovation  continued  and  now  and  then  he  smiled  in  pleased 
recognition  of  his  friends  from  the  mountain  section  who  ap- 
peared to  be  bent  on  making  the  most  noise.    When  quiet  was 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  151 

finally  restored,  the  impressive  moment  of  the  inauguration, 
the  administration  of  the  oath  of  office,  was  at  hand.  In  a 
clear,  firm  voice  audible  in  all  parts  of  the  hall,  Governor 
Craig  vowed  fealty  to  his  great  trust.  Intense  silence  pre- 
vailed as  the  Governor  took  the  oath  and  then  there  was  re- 
newed outburst  of  cheering.  Following  the  Chief  Executive, 
the  other  State  Officers,  as  named  above,  were  sworn  in,  and 
at  12:30  Governor  Craig  began  his  inaugural  address. 

At  its  conclusion  the  military  parade  was  re-formed  and 
reviewed  by  Governor  Craig  and  his  party  from  the  balcony 
of  the  Yarborough  Hotel.  The  soldier  boys  made  a  brave 
showing  and  were  received  with  repeated  ovations  from  the 
assembled  thousands.  The  marchers  dipped  colors  and  "pre- 
sented arms"  as  they  passed  the  reviewing  stand. 

The  boys  from  the  A.  &  M.  College,  numbering  500,  re- 
ceived the  greatest  ovation  as  they  marched  past  the  Gov- 
ernor and  his  staff.  They  wore  their  regulation  gray  uni- 
forms and  all  the  officers  were  mounted. 

The  Naval  Brigade  from  Wilmington  and  the  Boy  Scouts 
of  Raleigh  also  received  much  recognition  from  the  crowds. 
The  troops  dispersed  in  front  of  the  Capitol  and  the  Governor 
and  his  staff  were  taken  to  the  Executive  Mansion  for  lun- 
cheon, to  which  about  200  guests  had  been  invited. 

The  inaugural  ball  which  began  at  10:30  o'clock  tonight 
at  the  Auditorium  was  a  brilliant  affair.  The  grand  march 
was  led  by  Governor  and  Mrs.  Craig  with  the  Governor's 
Staff  in  full  uniform  and  the  new  State  Officers  following.  All 
the  civilian  dancers  were  in  evening  dress  and  the  brilliant 
uniforms  of  National  Guard  officers  formed  a  picturesque  con- 
trast.   Dancing  was  continued  until  after  midnight. 

It  is  stated  on  the  best  authority  that  all  records  for  at- 
tendance at  gubernatorial  inaugurations  were  broken  today. 
Some  estimates  place  the  number  of  strangers  in  the  city  at 
30,000  but  previously  stated,  conservative  estimates  range 
from  20,000  to  25,000. 

The  largest  crowds  on  record  up  to  this  time  were  those 
which  attended  the  inauguration  of  Governor  Vance,  when 
almost  the  entire  State  poured  into  the  capitol  to  celebrate  the 


152  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

redemption  of  North  Carolina  from  the  bonds  of  reconstruc- 
tion. It  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  this  instance,  too,  Asheville 
furnished  the  central  figure  of  the  inauguration  exercises. 

(News  and  Observer,  Raleigh,  January  16,  1913) 
******** 

The  applause  that  met  Governor  W.  W.  Kitchin  as  he  was 
introduced  by  J.  W.  Bunn,  of  Wake,  lasted  fifty-five  seconds. 
Mr.  Kitchin  stood  and  waited  until  the  people  were  quiet. 
Then  he  uttered  this  very  tasteful  sentence:  "Honorable 
Members  of  the  General  Assembly,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 
I  take  pleasure  in  presenting  the  Hon.  Locke  Craig,  Governor- 
Elect,  who  before  making  his  inaugural  address  will  qualify 
by  taking  the  prescribed  oath  of  office,  administered  by  the 
Chief  Justice,  Walter  Clark."  The  Choral  Society  sang  the 
Old  North  State. 

Mr.  Craig  advanced  to  the  speaker's  stand  which  was  dec- 
orated in  the  gorgeous  ensigns  of  the  State  and  the  Republic. 
The  whole  assembly  arose  and  gave  the  new  Governor  a  greet- 
ing as  vigorous  as  it  was  deep.  Sectional  pride  may  have 
moved  many,  but  Buncombe  did  not  beat  Brunswick  and  Bertie 
was  not  more  voluble  than  Burke.  It  was  the  uprising  of  all 
the  counties  for  Craig. 

The  new  Governor  stood  and  smilingly  waved  the  people 
to  silence.  It  was  his  turn  to  talk  and  theirs  to  hear.  The 
odds  were  against  him  for  a  moment,  but  he  warmed  quickly 
to  concert  pitch.  Once  from  out  the  moving  throng,  so  many 
of  whom  came  for  the  pyrotechnics,  there  rang  out  the  un- 
known and  irrepressible  quantity,  "Louder."  The  sharp  re- 
buke of  a  woman  who  wanted  to  know,  "Why  do  the  foolish 
people  all  stand  up?  They  can  see  just  as  well  sitting  down," 
reminded  one  of  the  woman  who  assured  the  rising  congrega- 
tion as  it  stood  to  worship  in  song,  that  it  "needn't  get  up 
for  me ;  I  can  find  a  seat."  This  censorship  of  inaugural  man- 
ners touched  many  ladies. 

With  the  moving  stilled,  Governor  Craig  had  little  diffi- 
culty in  reaching  everybody.  For  each  person  who  came  not  to 
hear  the  message  and  retired,  there  were  three  who  pushed 
for  a  seat,  this  momentary  demoralization  kept  the  speaker's 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  153 

first  words  from  the  great  bulk.  The  first  manifestation  of 
applause  was  the  climax  to  his  Biblical  picture  of  the  leaven- 
ing loaf.  "In  this  time  of  difficulty  and  hope  the  nation  turns 
for  guidance  to  the  Democratic  Party,"  was  the  sentiment  that 
spread  widely. 

Again,  when  Craig  quoted  the  dictum  of  Vance,  that  it 
ought  to  be  more  tolerable  for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  in  the 
Day  of  Judgment  than  for  the  exploiters  of  the  people,  the 
audience  burst  into  terrific  applause. 

Governor  Craig  read  his  paper,  but  passionate  and  spon- 
taneous oratory  never  sounded  to  better  effect.  One  removed 
from  sight  would  never  have  thought  he  had  manuscript.  His 
beautiful  voice  thundered  when  it  was  necessary;  it  pleaded 
at  his  slightest  behest. 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 

Gentlemen  of  the  General  Assembly  and  My  Fellow 
Citizens:  Democracy  gives  to  the  people  the  pledge  of  pro- 
gress. The  thought  of  the  age  has  created  a  nobler  purpose 
in  government.  The  Democratic  Party  intends  to  effectuate 
this  purpose  by  legislation  in  recognition  of  the  equal  rights 
of  man,  and  for  the  progressive  welfare  of  all  the  ranks  of 
life. 

In  our  material  prosperity,  privilege  has  been  substituted 
for  justice.  The  vast  wealth  of  modern  industry,  the  products 
of  labor  and  genius  have  not  been  divided  in  equity,  but  have 
been  gathered  into  the  enormous  fortunes  of  the  few. 

We  have  not  realized  the  moral  benefits  that  should  have 
resulted  from  modern  progress.  Avarice  has  been  stimulated ; 
hope  and  opportunity  have  been  denied;  antagonism  and  re- 
sentments have  been  generated.  All  classes  have  suffered. 
We  realize  the  conditions;  the  injustice  has  been  uncovered. 
It  can  not  stand  in  the  clear,  calm  and  resolute  gaze  of  the 
American  people.  They  are  determined  that  our  law  shall  be 
based  upon  a  higher  conception  of  social  obligation  and  that 
our  civilization  shall  mean  a  higher  social  life.  They  have 
put  their  hands  to  the  plow  and  will  not  look  back. 


154  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

A  new  era  has  dawned ;  the  last  election  marks  the  begin- 
ning of  an  epoch  in  our  Government.  The  Republican  Party- 
had  the  prestige  of  victory  and  tradition ;  it  had  the  power  of 
place  and  of  organized  wealth;  but  it  stood  for  privilege — it 
took  from  the  Republic  its  highest  meaning,  that  equal  justice 
is  the  inalienable  heritage  of  men ;  it  stood  for  that  prosperity 
which  is  not  the  handmaid  of  moral  and  intellectual  growth; 
it  stood  in  the  path  of  the  progressive  thought  of  the  age; 
with  all  its  power  and  prestige  it  was  crushed.  Like  the 
leaven  which  the  woman  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal,  the 
leaven  of  Democracy  has  been  at  work. 

In  this  time  of  difficulty  and  hope  the  country  turns  for 
guidance  to  the  Democratic  Party. 

The  spirit  of  progress  pervades  the  Union  and  the  people 
demand  legislation  responsive  to  the  impulse  of  the  age. 

North  Carolina  will  not  continue  to  march  in  the  rear  of 
the  procession  of  States.  She  is  impatient  for  the  advance. 
Throbbing  with  energy,  potential  with  accomplishment,  she 
looks  expectant  to  this  administration  and  to  this  General 
Assembly.  I  believe  that  you  Senators  and  Representatives 
will  perform  your  task  with  wisdom  and  courage  and  that 
your  work  will  be  for  the  welfare  of  this  generation  and  of 
our  posterity.  The  responsibility  is  ours,  the  opportunity  is 
ours. 

Constitutional  government  and  the  ideals  of  the  fathers 
have  ever  been  sacred  to  the  Democratic  Party;  but  these 
ideals  must  be  vital  for  practical  accomplishment  and  militant 
for  justice.  It  was  said  of  the  celebrated  opinion  of  Chief 
Justice  Taney,  that  "it  gave  the  law  to  the  North  and  the 
nigger  to  the  South."  We  are  not  content  with  the  forms  and 
ceremonies  of  the  law.  The  ideals  of  our  Government  must 
be  applied  to  present  conditions. 

The  first  duty  of  the  State  is  to  protect  the  citizen  in  the 
enjoyment  of  his  rights,  to  protect  the  weak  from  the  oppres- 
sion of  the  strong.  This  is  what  the  men  were  doing  at 
Runnymede. 

The  discrimination  which  the  railroads  have  made  against 
North  Carolina  in  freight  rates  is  the  injustice  of  arbitrary 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  155 

power.  It  has  already  worked  irreparable  injury;  it  has  al- 
ready cost  our  people  millions  of  dollars  and  driven  from  our 
territory  industries  the  value  of  which  we  can  not  estimate. 
These  corporations  have  the  protection  of  our  laws,  they 
operate  by  our  license,  they  enjoy  privileges,  and  exercise  the 
sovereign  power  of  eminent  domain  granted  by  the  State. 
They  collect  excessive  rates  from  our  people  that  cheaper 
rates  may  be  granted  to  the  people  of  adjoining  States. 

I  feel  no  antagonism  to  railroads.  I  know  that  our  welfare, 
to  a  large  extent,  is  dependent  upon  their  efficient  operation, 
which  can  only  result  from  just  remuneration.  I  know  that 
their  prosperity  is  co-existent  with  our  prosperity.  Besides, 
for  no  consideration  can  the  State  afford  to  be  unjust.  I  in- 
tend, as  the  Chief  Executive  of  this  State,  to  administer  her 
laws  with  impartiality  and  with  even-handed  justice  to  cor- 
poration and  to  individual,  to  the  great  and  to  the  lowly.  But 
when  any  corporation  or  any  person  shall  persistently  and 
defiantly  by  arbitrary  wrong  cripple  the  industries  of  this 
State  and  despoil  her  people,  such  person  or  corporation  may 
expect  relentless  resistance  and  resentment. 

Vance  said  of  those  who  were  exploiting  the  State  in  1876, 
that  it  ought  to  be  more  tolerable  for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
in  the  Day  of  Judgment  than  for  such  in  North  Carolina.  The 
spirit  of  Vance  and  1876  lives  today. 

The  city  of  High  Point  is  to  be  congratulated  that  in  the 
shipment  of  its  furniture  to  the  West  it  will  have  the  same 
freight  rate  as  rival  cities  of  Virginia.  The  same  rule  must 
apply  to  all  our  cities  and  to  all  our  commerce. 

This  administration  is  ready  to  put  into  operation  the  exe- 
cutive power  of  the  State  to  prevent  the  continuation  of  this 
wrong.  I  feel  sure  that  this  General  Assembly  is  ready  to 
exercise  any  constitutional  power  to  compel  justice. 

Is  it  possible  that  any  person  or  any  industry  within  our 
territory  shall  not  be  accorded  by  common  carriers  the  same 
rights  that  are  enjoyed  by  the  people  of  other  States?  If 
this  be  true,  then  ours  is  a  territory  to  move  out  of.  And 
hundreds  of  industries  have  moved.  We  occupy  the  land  and 
boast  of  the  lineage  and  bear  the  names  of  the  Englishmen  of 


156  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

Halifax  and  of  the  Scotch-Irish  of  Mecklenburg.  We  have 
inherited  Magna  Charta,  but  it  is  worthless  without  the  spirit 
of  the  men  who  made  it. 

We  will  win.  The  State  will  receive  immense  benefit.  Our 
industries  will  feel  the  impulse  and  new  ones  will  spring  up. 

North  Carolina  has  paid,  too,  her  quota  of  tribute  to  the 
rapacity  of  unlawful  monopoly.  We  have  been  preyed  upon 
by  trusts  abroad  and  by  trusts  at  home.  They  take  from  the 
earnings  of  all.  The  poor  must  suffer  most.  The  farmers 
especially  have  been  plundered  and  oppressed  in  the  open  day, 
without  hindrance,  by  a  great  concern  adjudged  now  to  be  in 
violation  of  law.  We  have  been  a  patient,  long-suffering  peo- 
ple. In  our  platform  there  is  promised  legislation  that  "will 
make  the  existence  of  these  concerns  impossible."  There  is 
promised  the  enforcement  of  the  civil  and  criminal  law  against 
the  trust  and  against  the  man  behind  the  trust. 

In  the  fulfillment  of  this  promise  we  need  a  trust  law,  clad 
in  blue  uniform,  that  can  raid  a  trust  den  with  a  warrant  and 
handcuffs  in  its  hand.  The  guilty  should  be  made  to  tremble, 
the  innocent  may  fear  not.  While  I  am  Governor  no  innocent 
man  shall  suffer  by  the  criminal  law. 

The  cry  will  be  raised  that  such  legislation  will  injure 
business.  The  trust  will  shield  itself,  if  possible,  behind  le- 
gitimate industry.  It  will  paralyze,  if  it  can,  the  hand  of 
justice  by  warnings  of  disaster  from  the  interference  with 
business. 

The  destruction  of  piracy  is  the  protection  of  industry.  It 
is  the  duty  of  the  State  to  protect  and  to  encourage  every 
enterprise,  small  and  great.  And  this  is  the  age  of  large 
enterprises.  They  are  essential  in  the  economy  of  our  civili- 
zation and  are  the  agencies  of  its  tremendous  power  and  ac- 
complishment. "All  the  currents  of  the  time  run  to  central- 
ization. To  successfully  resist  it  we  must  throttle  steam  and 
discharge  electricity  from  human  service."  But  these  forces 
should  be  for  the  service  and  not  for  the  oppression  of  man- 
kind. 

One  of  the  greatest  works  to  be  done  in  North  Carolina  is 
the  development  of  her  water  powers.  This  enterprise  is  now 
beginning  to  assume  its  splendid  proportions.    It  is  potential 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  157 

with  magnificent  upbuilding.  The  energy  of  our  rivers,  which 
has  been  wasted  in  wild  cataract  and  cascade,  has  been  har- 
nessed and  driven  to  cities  and  towns  in  currents  of  power 
obedient  for  all  manner  of  service.  This  industry  should  be 
welcomed  and  encouraged.  The  men  behind  it  are  benefactors 
of  the  State.  The  policy  of  our  law  is  that  the  State  shall 
regulate  and  control  public  service  corporations.  These  water 
powers  are  the  natural  agencies  for  public  service.  They  are 
natural  monopolies  and  since  the  time  of  the  ancient  grist 
mills  have  been  subject  to  governmental  regulations.  The 
corporations  operating  these  water  powers  for  public  use 
should  be  controlled  by  our  Corporation  Commission.  This 
must  be  done  eventually,  and  it  is  but  fair  and  right  that  it 
should  be  done  now.  We  should  always  remember,  however, 
that  remuneration  should  be  in  proportion  to  the  boldness  of 
the  conception  and  to  the  risk  of  the  enterprise.    This  is  just. 

For  the  protection  of  the  people  who  work  in  factories  and 
on  the  railroads  we  should  have  an  employer's  liability  law. 
It  should  provide  reasonable  compensation  for  injury  or  death, 
without  the  delay  and  the  expense  of  litigation.  This  law 
should  be  just  to  employer  and  employee,  and  it  would  be  to 
the  advantage  of  both.  It  would  eliminate  the  contingencies 
and  expense  objectionable  to  both.  It  is  demanded  by  good 
business  as  well  as  by  the  progressive  humanity  of  the  age. 

From  the  task  of  protection  we  proceed  to  the  grander 
task  of  construction. 

We  have  in  North  Carolina  two  and  a  half  millions  of  peo- 
ple of  pure  English  and  Scotch-Irish  blood.  We  rejoice  in  the 
enterprise  and  industry  and  courage  of  our  urban  population, 
and  we  honor  our  leaders  in  business,  the  master  men  who 
have  built  up  and  organized  great  industries  and  developed 
our  expanding  commerce.  But  this  is  essentially  a  Farmer 
State,  and  will  be  for  generations.  We  have  no  large  cities. 
Eighty  per  cent  of  our  population  is  rural — good,  sturdy 
farmer  folks.  They  grow  and  spend  their  lives  in  the  country. 
Their  destiny,  the  destiny  of  our  Commonwealth,  the  destiny 
of  us  all,  must  be  determined  by  the  conditions  that  exist  in 
the  country. 


158  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

North  Carolina  is  a  grand  old  State,  her  past  has  been 
heroic  in  peace  and  in  war.  But  we  must  confess  with  hu- 
miliation, that  we  have  neglected  our  country  children  worse 
than  any  other  State  in  the  Union,  save  one  or  two.  In  the 
discharge  of  the  sacred  duty  of  protecting  their  health  and 
the  paramount  duty  of  providing  for  their  education,  we  stand 
among  the  lowest.  We  must  expiate  this  sin  before  we  can 
longer  claim  our  noble  heritage. 

The  State  has  been  blessed  with  all  the  natural  conditions 
conducive  to  health  and  strength.  Sufferers  from  far  countries 
come  here  to  recover  from  disease  and  to  renew  the  vigor  of 
youth  in  our  salubrious  air.  But  we  have  allowed  disease  and 
death  to  stalk  abroad  at  noon-day.  Most  of  the  serious  dis- 
eases are  preventable  diseases.  Formerly  the  work  of  the 
doctor  was  to  heal  the  sick,  now  it  is  to  preserve  health.  The 
beneficence  of  scientific  medicine  is  to  drive  back  disease  and 
suffering.  Men  and  women  and  children  suffer  and  die  from 
causes  that  could  be  removed.  They  are  deaf  and  dumb,  and 
feebleminded,  and  are  stricken  with  blindness  and  insanity, 
condemned  to  lives  of  darkness  and  hopelessness,  not  by  the 
inscrutable  decrees  of  Providence,  but  by  the  failure  of  society 
to  protect  them  against  the  enemy  more  cruel  than  death. 
The  courage  and  energy  of  a  conquering  race  must  spring 
from  robust  health. 

We  must  provide  for  the  accurate  record  of  births  and 
deaths  and  the  causes  of  disease  in  every  community.  We 
can  thus  ascertain  with  accuracy  the  sanitary  conditions  in 
each  community  and  intelligently  work  for  the  prevention  of 
disease  and  for  the  promotion  of  health.  Each  county  and 
each  city  should  have  an  intelligent,  efficient,  well  paid  health 
officer.  We  can  appeal  to  our  citizenship  through  the  press, 
the  school  house  and  the  pulpit  and  encourage  them  to  purer 
and  more  healthful  home  conditions,  to  the  inestimable  bless- 
ings of  all  the  people. 

The  mill  men  of  North  Carolina  deserve  commendation  for 
the  humane  spirit  with  which  they  have  cared  for  the  health 
and  education  of  their  employees  and  the  children  of  their 
employees.    In  many  places  they  have  provided  schools  and 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  159 

libraries  and  comfortable  reading  rooms.  Some  of  the  great 
organizers  and  heads  of  industries  take  the  most  active  in- 
terest in  the  cleanliness  of  their  factory  towns  and  the  wel- 
fare of  their  workers.  But  the  State  should  not  neglect  her 
duty  longer  because  individuals  have  sometimes  done  then- 
duty. 

I  doubt  not  that  the  General  Assembly  will  ratify  by 
statute  the  humane  recommendations  made  for  the  protec- 
tion of  women  and  children  by  the  Committee  of  Mill  Men 
and  the  Committee  of  the  Society  for  the  Protection  of  Child 
Labor. 

The  highest  duty  of  society  is  the  education  of  the  children. 
The  command  to  educate  our  country  children  has  been  thun- 
dered from  the  conscience  of  the  age.  When  in  obedience  to 
the  demands  of  the  people  and  of  justice  to  the  child,  the 
General  Assembly  shall  provide  for  a  six  months'  rural  school, 
North  Carolina  will  feel  the  impulse  of  an  exalted  hope.  Then 
it  will  not  be  long  before  the  stigma  of  ignorance  will  be  wiped 
out,  the  stigma  which  through  the  long  years  has  been  our 
misfortune  and  our  humiliation. 

This  act  of  beneficent  wisdom  will  reach  down  to  the 
children  of  the  lowliest  and  lift  up  to  a  clearer  vision.  It  will 
show  them  hope  and  endow  them  with  a  new  strength.  It 
will  lift  the  whole  State  up  and  give  to  her  a  nobler  and  a 
grander  meaning.  And  prosperity,  and  juster  laws,  and  nobler 
institutions  and  ideals  will  follow  in  the  train  of  universal 
enlightenment. 

The  time  has  come  for  the  State  to  exercise  her  sovereign 
authority  and  compel  the  attendance  of  her  children  upon  the 
schools.  The  child  cannot  work  to  advantage,  but  his  mind  is 
eager  for  knowledge  and  most  retentive.  His  character  is 
responsive  to  culture.  The  factory  is  no  place  for  the  child. 
The  drudgery  of  toil  is  not  his  rightful  inheritance  before  his 
bones  are  hard  or  his  muscles  are  firm.  If  we  grind  the  seed 
corn,  there  will  be  a  failure  in  the  crop  of  men. 

Our  institutions  of  higher  learning  must  be  sustained  in 
their  full  vigor  and  efficiency.  They  are  the  dynamic  centers 
of  culture  and  are  essential  to  the  life  of  the  State.    If  we 


160  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

should  allow  them  to  begin  to  degenerate,  our  whole  educa- 
tional system  would  begin  to  lose  its  vitality  and  power. 

Our  eleemosynary  institutions  must  be  maintained  in  the 
high  state  of  efficiency  for  which  they  have  been  noted.  We 
must  make  provision  for  the  deaf  and  the  dumb  and  the  blind 
and  the  insane  and  the  feeble-minded.  When  in  their  distress 
and  weakness  they  stretch  forth  their  hands  to  us,  they  should 
not  be  driven  back  as  were  the  blind  men  in  the  way  to  Jeru- 
salem, for  it  was  the  Christ  who  said:  "Inasmuch  as  ye  did 
it  unto  the  least  of  these,  my  little  ones,  ye  did  it  unto  me." 

I  hope  that  you  can  provide  a  more  generous  pension  for 
the  Confederate  soldiers.  More  than  a  half  century  ago 
they  went  in  youth  and  strength  to  meet  the  invading  host. 
Some  fell  amid  the  fierce  tumult  of  historic  days  beneath  the 
advancing  flag,  enshrined  in  eternal  youth ;  many  have  passed 
since  the  war;  the  remnant  of  the  heroic  army  is  with  us  yet. 
Most  of  them  are  poor,  all  are  disabled  by  age  and  the  wounds 
and  hardships  of  war.  Our  privilege  to  help  them  is  closing, 
for  the  captains  and  the  soldiers  are  departing.  Soon  it  will 
be  written  what  we  did  for  the  last  of  the  battle-scarred  men 
of  Dixie. 

We  should  encourage  all  of  our  industries,  but  especially 
should  we  stimulate  the  growth  of  agriculture.  Its  wonderful 
improvement  is  already  an  inspiration.  Our  famers  are  be- 
ginning to  reap  the  harvests  of  the  intelligent  utilization  of 
the  soil. 

We  should  provide,  by  every  feasible  method,  for  their  pro- 
tection, and  for  their  obtaining  the  credits  and  the  means, 
that  increasing  prosperity  may  come. 

Improved  highways  are  the  arteries  of  the  country.  They 
create  organized  communities  of  isolated  families  and  make 
these  communities  a  part  of  the  life  of  the  great  world.  Dyna- 
mite and  the  steam  shovel  are  making  through  the  hills  and 
through  the  granite  of  the  mountains,  pathways  for  the  loco- 
motive. The  improved  road  would  give  the  farmers  access 
to  the  railroad,  to  the  church,  and  to  the  school  during  all 
seasons  of  the  year.  Good  roads  stimulate  improvement. 
Then  enrich  the  soil.     They  arouse  ambition  and  generous 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  161 

emulation.  They  increase  the  value  of  every  acre  of  land  that 
they  touch  and  the  value  of  every  man,  woman  and  child  whose 
home  they  pass.  No  community  can  hope  for  progress  without 
the  good  road.  We  cannot  have  the  benefits  of  modern  civil- 
ization without  it.  It  is  not  an  expense;  it  is  an  investment 
that  pays  one  hundred  per  cent  dividend  every  year.  And 
more,  it  brings  culture  and  contentment  and  a  better  social 
life.  Every  community  in  the  State  must  have  it.  The  cost 
is  much  less  than  it  was  a  few  years  ago. 

I  think  that  a  general  statute  should  be  enacted,  conferring 
upon  the  townships  the  power  to  levy  taxes  and  issue  bonds 
for  road  construction  and  providing  administrative  machinery. 
The  counties  can  continue  what  they  have  been  doing.  The 
townships  can  complete  and  perfect  the  system.  The  State 
should  supervise  and  encourage  this  great  work  by  lending 
its  credit  and  by  all  practicable,  feasible  means.  All  available 
convicts  should  be  worked  on  the  public  roads.  In  this  way 
they  can  be  used  more  appropriately  and  more  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  public  than  in  the  cultivation  of  the  field  or  in  the 
mechanical  arts. 

It  is  not  strange  that  in  the  past  thousands  of  young  men 
and  women,  yearning  for  a  larger  life,  have  left  the  loneliness 
and  poverty  of  the  farm  with  its  denial  of  culture  and  social 
enjoyment.  These  conditions  are  passing  away;  the  telephone 
now  puts  the  home  of  the  farmer  in  communication  with  his 
neighbors  and  with  the  men  and  the  markets  of  the  world. 
The  mail  carrier  brings  the  daily  paper  pulsing  with  "the 
thoughts  that  shake  mankind."  The  home  on  the  farm  with 
its  freedom  and  purity,  with  all  the  opportunities  of  civiliza- 
tion, is  the  hope  of  our  finest  development. 

The  legislation  of  North  Carolina  has  heretofore  been  con- 
siderate of  the  welfare  of  the  people  and  fairly  responsive  to 
their  demands.  This  State  has  not  suffered  as  other  States 
have  suffered  from  corrupt  and  sinister  influences,  but  these 
evils  will  come  to  us  too  unless  we  provide  against  them. 

The  primary  election  is  already  a  recognized  institution  in 
our  politics.  It  is  a  logical  evolution  of  our  democracy.  We 
have  it  and  let  us  have  it  in  its  best  possible  form.    Let  us 


162  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

provide  for  it  by  law  and  let  us  protect  it  by  law.  To  the 
limit  of  the  law  let  us  guarantee  purity  and  fairness  in  all 
elections.  The  Democratic  Party  has  set  its  face  steadfastly 
against  all  manner  of  corruption.  This  General  Assembly,  in 
accordance  with  the  declaration  in  the  platform,  will  enact  a 
statute  for  the  conviction  and  punishment  of  all  persons  that 
would  by  any  method  of  corruption  whatsoever  attempt  to 
influence  elections  or  the  making  or  the  administration  of  the 
law. 

The  most  difficult  question  for  this  General  Assembly  is 
the  raising  of  a  sufficient  revenue  to  meet  the  necessities  of 
the  State.  The  problem  of  taxation  is  always  difficult  and 
vital.  The  Government  must  be  economically  administered. 
No  extravagance  should  be  tolerated.  We  must  provide 
revenue  for  all  appropriations  and  necessary  expenses.  With 
the  State,  as  with  the  individual,  the  elementary  rule  of  bus- 
iness is,  to  live  within  your  means.  We  are  going  to  inevitable 
bankruptcy  if  we  continually  spend  more  than  our  income. 

But  North  Carolina  has  ample  resources  with  which  to 
meet  all  her  financial  obligations.  Within  the  last  decade  the 
value  of  her  lands  and  the  amount  of  her  wealth  have  been 
multiplied.  The  railroads  of  North  Carolina  are  more  valuable 
today  than  was  all  her  property  put  together  in  1876. 

We  cannot  repudiate  the  obligations  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. Now  that  the  land  is  yielding  the  bountiful  harvest, 
now  that  the  stagnant  towns  of  the  last  generation  are  grow- 
ing cities  of  increasing  wealth,  now  that  industry  is  tri- 
umphant, now  that  destiny  is  unfolding  to  us  in  grander  reve- 
lation—shall we  in  this  day  of  strength  and  prosperity  with- 
draw any  support  from  our  institutions  of  learning,  shall  we 
deny  the  efficient  administration  of  justice,  shall  we  not  hear 
the  appeal  of  the  unfortunate,  shall  it  be  written  that  to  the 
Confederate  soldiers  we  give  less  than  any  other  Southern 
State,  and  for  the  education  of  our  children  we  do  less  than 
any  State  in  the  Union  ?  In  this  new  century,  when  southern 
ideals  are  about  to  be  restored  to  the  Union,  when  southern 
statesmen  are  coming  again  to  the  places  of  power,  when  the 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  163 

future  beckons  with  renewed  strength  and  life;  forward,  is 
the  order. 

The  fault  is  that  we  do  not  assess  our  property  for  tax- 
ation. The  land  has  been  greatly  undervalued  and  most  of 
the  personal  property  has  not  been  valued  at  all.  It  seems 
that  an  immediate  reassessment  is  necessary,  and  it  should 
be  done  before  this  General  Assembly  shall  adjourn  sine  die. 
It  should  be  understood  that  the  assessment  is  not  ordered 
with  the  view  of  increasing  the  rate  of  taxation,  but  with  the 
view  of  lowering  the  rate  and  with  the  determination  of  se- 
curing a  more  equitable  and  more  complete  listing  of  taxable 
property.  The  tax  on  inheritances  should  be  increased  and  it 
should  be  collected. 

In  my  opinion  the  impelling  reason  for  undervaluation  and 
concealment  of  property  is  not  that  men  and  communities 
desire  to  shirk  the  payment  of  their  just  proportion  of  taxes, 
nor  that  they  desire  to  take  advantage  of  other  men  and  other 
communities,  but  the  reason  is  that  they  do  not  desire  that 
other  men  and  other  communities  shall  take  the  advantage  of 
them.  The  taxpayer  and  the  assessor,  to  insure  a  square 
deal  for  themselves  and  their  communities,  are  actuated  by 
a  common  purpose  to  undervalue  property,  and  for  this  reason 
undervaluation  and  concealment  have  come  to  be  the  estab- 
lished custom. 

The  personal  property  of  the  average  man  can  not  be  con- 
cealed. The  securities  of  the  wealthy  can  be  concealed.  The 
poor  pay  this  tax.    The  wealthy  escape. 

If  we  could  segregate  property  and  provide  that  the 
property  in  each  community  should  bear  the  governmental 
expense  of  that  community  and  that  property  of  a  general 
character  should  meet  the  requirements  of  the  State,  the 
temptation  to  depreciation  would  be  greatly  lessened  and  the 
effort  to  conceal  less  successful.  This  is  the  essence  and  the 
strength  of  local  self-government,  the  taxation  of  each  com- 
munity by  its  own  people,  for  its  own  purpose  and  benefits. 
The  unit  should  be  no  larger  than  is  necessary  to  assure  the 
advantages  of  co-operation. 

The  application  of  this  principle  has  enabled  our  cities  and 


164  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

towns  and  many  of  our  rural  communities  to  enjoy  the  ad- 
vantages of  improvement  and  progress.  We  must  eventually 
resort  to  this  principle  of  local  self-government  for  the  highest 
development  of  local  institutions.  We  must  resort  to  this  to 
obtain  the  best  roads,  and  the  best  schools,  and  electric  lights, 
and  pure  water,  and  the  opportunities  of  modern  life.  To 
realize  the  full  measure  of  the  blessing  of  this  beneficent 
principle  we  need  an  Amendment  to  our  Constitution. 

The  formation  and  the  submission  to  the  people  of  such  an 
amendment  would  be  the  supreme  work  of  this  General 
Assembly.  Such  an  amendment  would  be  of  mighty  sig- 
nificance in  the  life  of  the  State.  I  believe  that  it  could  be 
framed  to  result  in  her  enduring  welfare. 

In  assuming  the  office  of  Governor  I  am  deeply  conscious 
of  the  solemn  responsibility.  I  follow  in  the  line  of  my  able 
predecessors,  whose  administrations  have  been  blessed  with 
peace  and  plenty.  There  are  difficulties  to  be  met;  as  always 
the  law  must  be  enforced  for  the  suppression  of  crime  and  for 
the  maintenance  of  order,  and  as  to  the  policies  that  vitally 
concern  the  State  and  all  her  varied  interests,  sharp  differences 
must  necessarily  arise  among  able  and  patriotic  men. 

I  am  profoundly  grateful  to  the  people  for  calling  me  to 
the  place  where  earnest  endeavor  is  potential  for  the  welfare 
of  North  Carolina.  I  welcome  the  opportunity.  I  do  not  shirk 
from  the  labor.  I  realize  my  limitations,  and  I  am  eager  for 
the  support  and  counsel  of  my  friends,  and  of  all  good  citizens 
who  would  guide  me  in  the  straight  way  and  help  me  to  do 
the  best  service. 

I  will  strive  to  prefer  uprightness  to  the  approval  of  the 
mighty  or  to  the  applause  of  the  multitude.  My  ambition  is 
to  perform  this,  my  task,  with  fidelity  and  courage;  I  pray 
for  that  wisdom  and  strength  vouchsafed  to  him  who  is  stead- 
fast in  the  resolve  to  do  right. 

On  this  day  I  dedicate  myself  to  the  service  of  all  the  peo- 
ple; and  for  them  I  do  promise  to  administer  this  office  con- 
stant in  the  obligation  to  do  exact  justice  to  every  man  with- 
out regard  to  race  or  politics,  to  class  or  condition ;  sealed  with 
the  oath  that  I  have  taken,  this  with  them  is  my  Covenant. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  165 

And  may  the  Almighty  Hand  be  upon  this,  His  State,  to 
order  it  and  to  uphold  it  with  Judgment  and  with  Righteous- 
ness henceforth,  even  forever. 


THE  GOVERNOR'S  ADDRESS 

NOTE:  How  many  of  the  Governor's  recommendations  voiced  in 
his  Inaugural  Address  became  realities,  history  now  records.  The  re- 
duction of  freight  rates,  the  beginning  of  the  building  of  a  state-wide 
good  roads  system,  and  tax  assessment  reform  are  among  the  most 
notable.  The  Asheville  Gazette-News  of  January  15th  sums  up  the 
progressive  program  advocated,  in  the  following  editorial: 

Ranking  easily  among  the  great  State  papers  in  style  and 
in  spirit,  voicing  the  convictions,  the  yearnings,  the  ideals  of 
a  new  time,  yet  with  reverence  of  sacred  memories  and  tra- 
ditions, Hon.  Locke  Craig's  address  delivered  today,  on  the 
occasion  of  his  induction  into  the  office  of  Governor  of  North 
Carolina,  will  be  read,  studied  and  preserved,  by  his  friends 
and  neighbors  in  the  western  section,  heightening  their 
especial  pride  in  today's  event,  and  by  the  people  of  the  whole 
State.  For  he  voices  the  hour ;  simply,  eloquently,  powerfully. 
The  address  is  a  finely  wrought  literary  production.  Some 
passages,  in  conformity  with  the  theme,  are  pure  poetry. 

With  the  assurance  of  one  who  sees  a  pathway,  the  Gov- 
ernor says  that  one  goal  ahead  is  the  abolition  of  the  monu- 
mental tax  of  freight  discrimination ;  it  must  end.  The  water 
powers  should  be  controlled  by  the  Corporation  Commission. 
There  should  be  an  employer's  liability  law.  The  State's 
destiny  depends  upon  the  conditions  of  country  life,  since 
eighty  per  cent  of  our  population  is  rural,  and  our  betterment 
enterprises  must  conform  to  those  conditions  and  be  largely 
directed  by  them.  Failure  to  provide  for  protection  of  the 
health  of  the  children  of  the  State  and  for  their  education  the 
Governor  names  by  its  true  name — it  is  a  sin.  He  is  em- 
phatic on  the  subjects  of  the  conservation  of  the  public  health, 
the  work  of  women  and  children  in  factories,  good  roads  build- 
ing, a  primary  law.  The  climax  of  the  address  emphasizes  the 
paramount  necessity  of  tax  assessment  reform. 


166  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

Like  the  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  the  Governor's  task  has 
been  to  emphasize  things  already  stated,  to  say  old  things  in 
a  new  way,  rather  than  to  state  new  facts.  He  says  of  good 
roads  that  they  enhance  the  value  of  every  man  and  woman 
and  child  whose  home  they  pass,  and  of  every  acre  of  land 
fronting  upon  them.  What  a  magnificent  task  of  conserva- 
tion, of  economy,  is  thus  pictured. 

No  vast  nor  impossible  scheme  of  legislation  is  outlined. 
It  is  presumed  that  Mr.  Craig  has  made  a  program  which  he 
considers  well  within  the  limits  of  the  present  Legislature. 
Most  progress  is  by  compromise.  If  even  a  major  portion  of 
the  things  suggested  in  the  address  are  done,  the  State  will 
have  made  great  progress  and  cleared  the  way  to  much 
greater.  The  Governor  is  of  the  opinion  that  there  should  be 
a  reassessment  of  the  property  of  the  State  before  final  ad- 
journment. This  will  enable  the  people  to  see  what  the  effect 
will  be  of  a  proper  adjustment  of  taxation,  before  the  tax  is 
levied.    Two  years  ago  the  budget  was  made  up  by  guess. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  167 


OPENING  OF  THE  GREAT 
STATE  FAIR 

(October,  1913) 

NOTE:  The  Public  Letters  and  Papers  of  Locke  Craig,  published 
at  the  close  of  his  administration,  give  all  his  messages  to  the  Generar 
Assembly,  and  official  communications.  It  is  not  attempted  here  to 
repeat  these,  except  the  Inaugural  Address  and  the  final  message  to 
the  General  Assembly.  The  speeches  that  follow  are  selected  from 
those  made  while  he  was  Governor  of  the  State. 

North  Carolina  is  buoyant  with  energy.  Plenty  is  the  re- 
ward of  labor.  Her  cities  teem  with  commerce  and  her  fields 
are  robed  in  harvest.  Thrift  and  frugality  are  the  inheritance 
of  this  generation  that  remembers  the  days  of  our  adversity. 

The  State  is  victorious  in  industry.  Amid  the  roar  of  the 
cataract  and  the  throbbing  of  the  steam  engine,  there  rises 
the  manifold  song  of  multiplex  wheel  and  spindle.  We  have 
today  two  hundred  and  ninety-four  cotton  mills,  with  more 
than  three  million  spindles  and  more  than  fifty-eight  thousand 
looms ;  ninety-one  furniture  factories,  employing  thousands  of 
people,  and  sending  the  finished  products  of  our  forests  to  all 
civilized  countries.  All  kinds  of  industries  are  prospering  and 
adding  to  the  wealth  of  the  State. 

Our  mountain  section  is  becoming  a  land  of  orchards.  The 
apples  wear  the  royal  colors  of  their  native  hills,  and  are 
flavored  by  the  aroma  that  is  fragrant  in  the  flowers.  Their 
quality  is  unequaled.  They  take  the  first  prizes  at  the  world's 
expositions,  and  command  a  higher  price  than  the  oranges  of 
the  tropics. 

In  this  land  corn  and  wheat  are  more  prolific  than  the 
harvests  gathered  in  the  realms  of  Rasselas,  Prince  of  Abys- 
sinia. Our  tobacco,  peanuts,  berries  and  cantaloupes  are 
profitable  to  the  producer  and  the  most  delicate  luxuries 
wherever  they  are  known. 

The  cattle  of  a  thousand  hills  are  ours.  The  fertile  slopes 
of  our  mountains  make  pastures  as  rich  as  those  that  Abra- 


168  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

ham  looked  upon  when  he  turned  his  eyes  to  the  plains  of 
Mesopotamia. 

Cotton  is  the  commanding  staple  of  all  agriculture,  and 
from  this  product  alone  North  Carolina  in  1912  realized  more 
than  sixty  million  dollars. 

This  Fair  is  the  Annual  Festival  of  Industry.  For  exhi- 
bition, here  is  brought  the  unblemished  of  every  herd  and  the 
finest  fruits  of  every  section.  The  experience  of  each  is  the 
teacher  of  all.  We  are  awakened  to  our  powers  and  oppor- 
tunities. The  spirit  of  generous  emulation  is  engendered  and 
stimulates  to  higher  hope  and  endeavor.  We  do  not  know 
what  North  Carolina  can  do;  we  do  not  know  what  we  our- 
selves can  do,  until  we  see  what  has  been  done  by  superior 
energy  and  intelligence.  This  fair  is  a  grand  object  lesson; 
an  encouragement  that  arouses  the  manhood  and  the  woman- 
hood of  the  State  to  more  determined  effort.  It  is  and  has 
been  a  large  factor  in  accomplishment  and  in  progress.  It  is 
the  list  where  the  knights  of  useful  achievement  contend. 
The  victors  here  are  rewarded  with  a  high  consciousness  that 
they  are  foremost  in  the  peaceful  contest  for  the  welfare  of 
mankind. 

But  the  noblest  exhibit  of  this  Fair  is  not  corn  or  cotton 
or  fruit  or  cattle,  but  men  and  women.  From  the  mountains 
and  from  the  plains  they  have  gathered — these  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  State,  sprung  from  the  loins  of  a  sturdy  race, 
thoroughbred  they  are  from  Norman  and  Saxon  sires.  These 
constitute  the  State — her  wealth  and  her  glory.  Like  Cor- 
nelia, the  mother  of  the  Graccii,  she  points  with  pride  to  these 
as  her  jewels,  and  all  industry,  all  achievement,  all  progress, 
all  law  and  all  government  should  have  the  supreme  purpose 
of  a  more  exalted  ideal,  a  finer  citizenship,  the  guarantee  of 
justice,  an  equal  opportunity  to  all  the  sons  and  daughters  of 
this  Commonwealth.  , 

I  have  the  faith  that  the  State  is  entering  upon  a  career 
of  grander  progress.  We  are  inspired  by  a  history  of  heroism 
in  war  and  unfaltering  courage  in  peace.  We  can  reap  in  our 
strength  the  golden  harvest  from  the  fields  that  were  sown 
in  weakness.    The  men  of  the  South,  and  the  men  of  North 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  169 

Carolina  are  now  in  the  seats  of  power  to  restore  the  ideals 
of  the  Republic,  to  unfetter  our  industries,  and  guarantee 
opportunity  to  all  of  the  people. 

We  see  the  coming  of  the  day  when  privilege  shall  no 
longer  plunder  with  impunity.  We  see,  too,  the  coming  of 
the  day  when  justice  shall  be  done  in  the  transportation  of 
commerce,  when  natural  monopolies  shall  be  subservient  to 
the  public  welfare. 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  an  era  when  highways,  the  arteries 
of  the  body  politic,  shall  carry  the  blessings  of  progress  and 
civilization  to  every  home  in  North  Carolina.  Inventive  genius 
has  employed  the  powers  of  men  and  revolutionized  industry. 

The  day  is  coming  when  wealth  and  progress  shall  be  the 
handmaid  of  enlightenment  and  humanity,  when  the  State 
shall  protect  the  weak,  and  offer  to  every  child  the  hope  of  a 
higher  life.  Already  there  are  in  the  State  more  than  six 
hundred  thousand  children  upon  the  rolls  of  the  public  schools. 


170  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 


NEEDS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA  ALONG 
EDUCATIONAL  LINES 

(Roanoke  Rapids,  N.  C,  April,  1914) 

Mr.  W.  L.  Long  introduced  the  Governor  to  the  audience 
with  a  few  brief  but  clever  remarks.  Mr.  Long  spoke  of  the 
duty  of  the  community  to  educate  its  children,  complimented 
the  work  of  the  Superintendent  and  Faculty  of  the  Graded 
School  and  emphasized  the  fact  that  the  growth  and  progress 
of  this  community  had  been  such  as  to  far  exceed  our  present 
school  facilities.  He  introduced  Governor  Craig  as  "North 
Carolina's  most  distinguished  son;  a  man  worthy  in  every 
way  to  succeed  our  beloved  Aycock." 

Governor  Craig's  speech  was  both  humorous  and  pathetic ; 
entertaining  the  audience  every  minute  he  was  speaking.  He 
referred  humorously  to  his  introduction  by  Mr.  Long. 

"I  wish  to  thank  my  talented  young  friend  for  the  hand- 
some way  in  which  he  introduced  me  to  this  great  audience. 
Of  course  I  know  I  do  not  deserve  to  be  presented  in  any  such 
way,  but  I  am  obliged  to  him  all  the  same.  It  makes  me  feel 
good  to  hear  anybody  talk  about  me  that  way,  although  I 
know  it  is  not  so.  My  folks  in  the  mountains  will  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  I  have  gotten  to  be  a  different  kind  of  a 
man  since  I  have  become  Governor."  He  mentioned  the  fact 
that  this  was  the  first  time  that  he  had  had  the  pleasure  of 
speaking  to  an  audience  in  their  county.  He  mentioned  the 
astonishing  progress  made  by  this  community  in  such  a  brief 
while.  "I  could  not  have  spoken  here  so  very  long  ago, 
there  was  nothing  here  but  peanuts  and  cotton  and  now  there 
has  been  built  here  one  of  the  great  industrial  centers  of  the 
State.  I  was  astonished  to  see  such  an  industrial  center 
here. 

"But  industrial  accomplishment  is  not  the  highest  aim  of 
men;  to  make  money  is  not  the  highest  aim  of  men.  It  is  a 
great  thing  to  make  money.  I  wish  I  could  make  money.  I 
do  not  condemn  the  man  who  makes  money.     It  is  a  mag- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  171 

nificent  thing  to  build  railroads  that  stretch  across  a  con- 
tinent, to  erect  cotton  mills  and  paper  mills  and  vast  manu- 
facturing industries;  to  start  in  motion  machinery;  to  start 
the  song  of  the  spindle  and  the  clack  of  the  loom. 

"But  that  is  not  the  highest  thing  in  life.  The  object  of 
all  human  endeavor,  the  highest  aim  of  all  human  civiliza- 
tion, ought  to  be  the  culture  of  the  individual  man  and  woman. 
The  greatest  thing  in  this  world  is  the  building  of  men  and 
women.  If  everything  on  this  green  footstool  of  Almighty 
God  were  for  the  sole  purpose  of  making  money,  if  that  were 
the  sole  object,  He  would  stamp  it  out  of  existence.  The 
highest  object  of  all  human  endeavor  is  the  improvement  of 
men  and  women,  and  it  is  the  highest  object  of  government. 
The  highest  object  of  government  is  not  to  build  great  battle- 
ships, to  erect  magnificent  public  buildings.  The  symbol  of 
our  government  is  not  the  rapid-fire  machine  gun,  or  the  hang- 
man's noose.  I  would  rather  compare  the  government  under 
which  I  live  to  an  old  hen.  I  do  not  mean  any  jokes  by  com- 
paring it  to  an  old  hen.  It  is  one  of  the  grandest  symbols  I 
know  of.  When  our  Saviour  stood  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives 
overlooking  'Jerusalem  the  Golden'  he  said:  'Oh,  Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets  and  stonest  them 
that  are  sent  unto  thee.  How  often  would  I  have  gathered 
thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens 
under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not.' 

"I  would  not  typify  this  government  by  the  sword,  the 
hangman's  noose  or  the  policeman's  billy,  but  I  would  have  it 
a  government  for  protection  of  the  people  and  to  lift  up  all 
the  people  to  a  higher  plane  and  a  nobler  purpose  in  life. 
Liberty  and  Justice  are  but  means  to  an  end,  and  Liberty  and 
Justice  have  as  an  end  the  betterment  of  every  person  that 
comes  under  their  sway. 

"That  is  the  grandest  republic  which  guarantees  to  every 
child  in  its  borders  the  opportunity  of  attaining  his  highest 
possibilities.  That  community  is  governed  by  the  noblest 
ideas,  that  community  is  striving  for  the  highest  and  best  in 
life,  which  guarantees  to  every  child  in  its  borders  the  possi- 
bilities of  attaining  to  its  highest  ideals. 


172  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

"Unless  this  community  and  this  Government  guarantee 
these  possibilities,  it  is  all  a  fraud  and  a  humbug,  and  it  is 
wrong! 

"There  are  three  main  influences  with  a  man  or  a  woman ; 
in  the  first  place,  the  influence  of  heredity.  We  are  apt  to  be 
somewhat  like  our  parents  are  and  to  receive  from  them  some 
of  our  characteristics.  And  then  there  is  the  influence  upon 
human  character  of  that  thing  which  you  call  personal  will. 
Every  boy,  girl,  man  or  woman  has  within  him  a  throne  of 
power  from  which  he  can  defy  the  decree  of  Almighty  God. 
And  then  there  is  opportunity — the  influence  of  environment, 
the  influence  of  the  circumstances  in  which  we  live,  and  I 
think  that  counts  for  more  than  all  of  the  other  influences  put 
together. 

"The  intellectual  and  moral  differences  between  men  and 
women  by  nature  are  not  more  pronounced  than  their  physical 
differences  are.  But  take  the  most  pure  and  beautiful  woman 
in  Roanoke  Rapids  and  compare  her  with  the  lowest,  most 
degraded  woman  in  Roanoke  Rapids.  The  difference  between 
them  is  the  difference  between  a  demon  and  an  archangel — as 
far  as  the  East  is  from  the  West.  Why  this  great  difference  ? 
It  does  not  exist  by  nature  and  ought  not  to  exist  at  all.  You 
say  it  does.  Suppose  you  go  to  the  poorest  and  worst  kept 
home  in  this  town  and  take  from  it  an  infant  at  the  moment 
of  birth.  Suppose  this  child  is  exchanged  for  a  rich  child, 
unknown  to  anyone.  Do  you  think  that  after  life  would  ever 
reveal  the  horrible  secret?  Lady  Clara  Vere  De  Vere,  with 
all  her  culture,  grace  and  refinement,  if  she  had  been  trans- 
posed at  birth  to  a  cradle  of  ignorance,  vice  and  sin,  do  you 
suppose  that  the  blood  of  an  hundred  earls  would  have  made 
her  the  graceful,  talented,  Christian  woman  that  she  was? 

"Circumstances,  environment,  opportunity,  or  the  lack  of 
these  things,  make  up  these  differences  between  men  and 
women.  You  might  take  the  child  of  the  wildest  savage  and 
put  him  in  a  Christian  home,  why  he  too  would  be  'the  heir 
of  all  the  ages  in  the  foremost  files  of  time.'  My  friends,  I 
claim  that  the  greatest  influence  upon  human  character  is 
opportunity. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  173 

"A  boy  or  girl  is  like  a  wireless  tower  standing  ready  to 
receive  messages  of  love,  culture,  hope — ready  to  receive 
power.  Every  child,  every  human  being,  wants  the  oppor- 
tunity of  that  message.  It  wants  its  mind  tuned  for  a  higher, 
nobler  and  grander  life. 

"The  great  differences  you  see  between  men  are  only  dif- 
ferences in  the  opportunities  they  have  had.  Every  man,  boy, 
or  girl,  ought  to  be  taught  to  do  that  which  he  is  best  capable 
of  doing.  I  had  rather  be  a  good  hog  feeder  than  a  sorry 
preacher  and  sometimes  a  powerful  good  hog  feeder  is  spoiled 
in  making  a  poor  preacher.  Every  man  ought  to  be  taught 
to  do  that  which  he  can  do  the  best.  We  cannot  all  be  gov- 
ernors, spinners,  or  preachers,  but  there  is  a  place  for  every 
one. 

"You  can  take  two  acorns  from  the  same  tree,  with  the 
same  possibilities,  the  same  germ  of  life,  the  same  energy 
for  development.  You  can  plant  one  in  sterile  soil  and  let  it 
be  choked  by  weeds.  It  will  grow  up  into  an  ugly,  knotty, 
scrubby  oak.  Take  the  other  acorn  and  put  it  in  good  soil, 
give  it  sustenance,  give  it  a  chance  to  grow.  It  will  grow  into 
a  great,  widespreading  monarch  of  the  forest.  It  will  wave 
its  giant  arms  in  defiance  of  the  storm.  If  there  is  a  great 
difference  in  what  came  from  the  two  acorns,  what  must  be 
the  difference  that  develops  between  two  human  beings,  be- 
cause these  human  beings  have  no  limitations?  All  possi- 
bilities are  theirs.  For  them  everything  hopes.  There  is  no 
limit  to  their  development;  no  limit  to  the  heights  to  which 
they  may  rise;  no  limit  to  their  degradation  to  the  lowest 
depths.  When  a  community  is  dealing  with  its  young,  it  is 
dealing  with  infinite  possibilities." 

Governor  Craig  then  alluded  to  the  coming  bond  election 
for  the  purpose  of  enlarging  the  educational  facilities  of  the 
community. 

"They  tell  me  that  the  corporations  of  this  District  are 
going  to  pay  eighty-five  per  cent  of  the  taxes  and  the  people 
of  the  District  will  only  have  to  pay  the  other  fifteen  per 
cent.  A  man  who  would  vote  against  that  kind  of  a  proposi- 
tion would  vote  against  the  interests  of  his  child. 


174  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

"When  I  look  at  my  boys,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  highest 
and  noblest  thing  that  I  can  do  is  to  give  them  the  best  oppor- 
tunity in  life.  I  know  that  if  my  boy  is  educated  and  your 
boy  is  not  educated,  I  know  that  my  boy  grows  like  the 
mighty  oak  in  fertile  ground  and  your  boy  is  fated  to  grow 
like  the  scrub  oak.  I  know  that  one  boy  would  occupy  an 
exalted  place  in  the  world  and  the  other  boy  must  be  a  hewer 
of  wood  and  a  drawer  of  water.  If  my  boy  has  the  chance  and 
yours  has  not,  it  has  got  to  be  your  boy  and  not  mine. 

"Of  course  you  are  going  to  vote  those  taxes.  North  Car- 
olina is  voting  this  tax  everywhere  for  the  benefit  of  the 
children  of  North  Carolina.  I  hope  that  everyone  of  you  will 
go  to  the  polls  and  vote  for  the  progress  of  your  children. 

"There  are  just  as  intelligent  faces  among  the  Roanoke 
Rapids  boys  and  girls  as  you  will  find  in  the  most  fashionable 
community.  They  need  but  culture.  The  highest  product  of 
the  human  race  is  to  be  found  in  the  modern,  cultured 
American  men  and  women.  I  believe  the  boys  and  girls  here 
in  Roanoke  Rapids  are  capable  of  all  culture  and  develop- 
ment. Unless  this  community  does  lift  them  up  and  point 
them  to  the  very  highest  opportunity,  this  community  is  a 
failure. 

"The  corporations  say  if  you  will  note  this  tax,  we  will  pay 
eighty-five  per  cent  and  you  are  to  pay  fifteen  per  cent.  They 
are  willing  to  do  this  because  their  business  will  be  worth 
more.  Every  human  being  in  Roanoke  Rapids  will  be  worth 
more.  It  is  a  question  of  whether  or  not  you  want  to  educate 
your  child. 

"You  should  vote  this  tax  and  give  all  welcome  to  the 
great  and  glorious  opportunity  vouchsafed  to  your  children. 
My  friends,  the  responsibility  is  yours,  the  duty  is  yours,  and 
I  believe  that  every  man  will  do  his  duty  to  himself  and  to  his 
children  and  let  his  children  take  hold  of  the  glorious  oppor- 
tunity offered  them  in  this  beautiful  city  on  the  banks  of  the 
Roanoke." 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  175 


INTRODUCTION  OF  VICE-PRESIDENT 
MARSHALL  AT  CHARLOTTE 

(May  20th,  1914) 

NOTE:  This  occasion  was  the  celebration  in  commemoration  of 
the  signing  of  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Independence,  May  20, 
1775. 

Mr.  McDowell,  in  presenting  Governor  Craig,  recalled  that 
at  the  great'  centennial  celebration  of  1875,  the  chief  speaker, 
Governor  Thomas  Hendrix,  of  Indiana,  was  introduced  by- 
North  Carolina's  idol,  Governor  Zebulon  B.  Vance.  "When 
these  two  luminous  figures  faced  the  audience  they  formed 
a  picture  never  to  be  forgotten,"  said  he,  and  added  that  it 
was  highly  appropriate  for  the  guest  of  the  day,  a  celebrated 
Indianian,  to  be  introduced  by  "our  own  loved  Governor  Locke 
Craig." 

There  was  an  outburst  of  applause  as  the  Governor  arose. 
"Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  Mecklenburg  and  all  the  other 
counties  of  North  Carolina,"  said  he.  "If  the  men  of  Meck- 
lenburg and  surrounding  counties  of  139  years  ago  could  re- 
visit this  city  and  witness  the  scenes  that  are  being  enacted 
here  today,  they  would  conclude  that  their  descendants  had 
kept  at  least  one  of  the  commandments,  that  they  should 
multiply  and  replenish  the  earth.     (Laughter.) 

"North  Carolina  is  gathered  here  today  to  celebrate  the 
clear-sightedness  and  heroism  of  the  pioneers  of  human 
freedom,  or  as  the  poem  has  put  it,  the  vanguard  of  the  Revo- 
lution. We  come  to  acknowledge  our  obligation  and  to  express 
our  gratitude  to  the  men  and  women  who,  though  few  in  num- 
bers as  compared  with  us;  139  years  ago,  in  defiance  of  the 
principalities  and  powers  of  earth,  declared  for  the  inalienable 
rights  of  all  men.  We  come,  my  friends,  today,  and  on  the 
soil  made  sacred  by  their  dust,  and  under  the  same  skies 
beneath  which  they  lived,  and  with  the  same  Scotch-Irish 
blood  coursing  through  our  veins  that  burned  in  them,  we 
come  to  renew  our  covenant  to  do  our  part  with  fidelity  and 


176  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

courage.  We  acknowledge  our  indebtedness  for  this  heritage 
and  realize  that  it  is  our  responsibility  to  transmit  it  in  its 
purity  to  the  generations  that  are  to  follow  us. 

"It  is  appropriate  that  your  orator  today  should  come  from 
the  great  Northwest,  a  section  whose  people,  during  the  try- 
ing years  of  Reconstruction  and  the  political  contests  that 
have  come  since,  have  had  hearts  that  responded  in  sympathy 
and  co-operation  with  Southern  wrongs  and  Southern  ideals. 

"We  have  with  us  today  a  man,  who,  by  grace  of  the 
grandest  Republic  that  ever  existed  among  men,  has  been 
exalted  to  the  second  eminence  in  all  the  world.  (Applause.) 
He  comes  to  us,  not  merely  as  a  distinguished  person,  but  he 
comes  as  the  representative  of  ideals  that  have  come  back  to 
the  sovereign  places  in  this  Government.  He  represents  an 
administration  that  stands  for  justice  to  all  men,  a  vitaliza- 
tion  of  the  principle  for  which  the  men  of  Mecklenburg  strove ; 
an  administration  that  stands  for  peace  with  and  among  all 
the  nations  of  earth  but  one  which,  with  all  the  power  of  the 
greatest  nation  in  the  world,  stands  for  war  if  war  must 
come.     (Applause.) 

"The  men  of  Mecklenburg  139  years  ago  planted  here  the 
seed  of  a  mighty  tree.  It  has  grown  up  into  the  magnificent 
city  of  Charlotte.  The  vanguard  of  the  Revolution,  it  has 
always  maintained  its  position  of  leadership.  I  welcome  you, 
sir,  to  the  largest  and  most  important  city  in  North  Carolina; 
in  commerce  and  in  spirit  and  in  progress,  the  largest  city  on 
this  hemisphere.  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  have  the  great 
honor  to  present  to  you  the  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States." 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  177 

MEETING  OF  THE  SCOTTISH  SOCIETY  OF 

AMERICA  AND  ADDRESS  OF 

GOVERNOR  CRAIG 

(May  29th,  1914) 

NOTE:  The  account  of  this  meeting  was  taken  from  The  Raleigh 
News  and  Observer  of  May  31st>. 

When  the  Scottish  Society  of  America  celebrated  its  fifth 
time  in  Fayetteville,  Thursday,  Governor  Locke  Craig  wore 
plaid,  spoke,  and  was  the  most  delighted  Scotchman  in  the 
crowd. 

Governor  Craig  took  his  staff  with  him  and  while  the  "God- 
Blessed  Macs"  were  dressed  up,  the  State  of  North  Carolina 
was  putting  on  some  airs  also.  The  Governor's  party  attracted 
the  big  attention.  The  Scotch  had  seen  the  Macs,  their 
clothes  and  their  ornamentals,  but  they  had  not  seen  real  regi- 
mentals since  Sherman  went  through  fifty  years  ago  and 
raised  a  little  of  the  stuff  that  he  said  war  is.  He  paid  Fay- 
etteville a  delightful  visit  and  helped  himself  to  the  good 
rations  of  that  town. 


Governor  Craig  began  his  speech  with  a  story  that  brought 
the  crowd  to  great  laughter.  He  said  that  while  he  and  his 
staff  were  sitting  in  their  automobile  waiting  for  the  parade 
to  begin,  a  crowd  of  boys  came  out  and  looked  at  them. 

General  Laurence  W.  Young  was  the  man  whom  they  sur- 
veyed. The  General  had  on  his  military  best.  The  boys 
looked  him  over  too  awed  to  talk.  But  there  was  one  brave 
fellow  and  he  personified  the  sentiment  of  the  others.  Look- 
ing at  the  Colonel,  the  youngster  said:  "There  is  one  man 
what  shore  is  dressed  up!" 

"They  are  a  people  that  never  crouched  in  bondage.  It 
was  the  red-headed  Scotchman,  Galgarcus,  according  to  Ta- 
citus, that  hurled  at  the  crushing  destiny  of  Roman  power  his 


178  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

last  defiance,  at  the  foot-hills  of  Scotland,  that  is  perpetuated 
in  the  oratory  of  our  day: 

"  'You  plunder  our  homes,  and  violate  our  women,  and  call 
that  civilization ;  you  make  the  land  a  desolation,  and  call  that 
peace.'  They  died  before  the  legions  of  Caesar,  but  not  a  man 
surrendered.  It  was  the  same  inspiration  in  the  young  piper 
of  the  Seventy-Fifth  Highland  Regiment  at  Waterloo.  He  sat 
on  a  drum,  playing  the  airs  of  Scotland  while  his  comrades 
were  annihilated  around  him.  They  died  remembering  Ben 
Lothian,  like  the  Greeks  remembering  Argos.  The  music  of 
the  bag-pipe  did  not  stop  until  the  piper  was  dead. 

"Wherever  English-speaking  armies  have  marched,  and 
the  conclusions  of  battle  have  been  tried,  whether  on  the 
Heights  of  Abraham,  or  on  the  Heights  of  Gettysburg,  or  the 
Moor  of  Culloden,  there  Scotchmen  have  fought  and  fallen 
among  the  foremost.  Their  free-born  spirit,  their  knightly 
character  and  their  courage  are  the  themes  of  romance  and 
chivalry. 

"Not  only  in  war,  but  in  the  thoughts  that  shake  mankind, 
they  have  maintained  their  primacy.  That  small  land  has 
produced  thinkers  and  philosophers  and  orators  equalled  only 
by  ancient  Athens.  A  land  of  poor  soil,  and  rugged  mountains, 
it  has  been  worth  more  to  the  world  than  the  vast  empires  of 
the  Czars  and  the  Manchus. 

"The  most  powerful  thinker  of  modern  times  is  the  Scotch- 
man, Thomas  Carlyle.  With  the  exception  of  Shakespeare, 
the  crowning  glory  of  English  Literature.  He  is  one  of  the 
forces  of  the  ages.  He  is  a  seer  who  beheld  the  apocalypse  of 
nature,  a  prophet  who  called  men  back  to  the  eternal  verities. 
Sometimes  he  rings  the  Angelus  bells,  and  then  in  the  twi- 
light, over  peaceful  meadow  and  golden  field,  we  hear  the 
tones  of  everlasting  love  and  forgiveness ;  sometimes  he  sounds 
the  blast  of  the  trumpet  of  the  Day  of  Judgment,  and  in  the 
tempest  amid  the  tumult  of  the  thunders  from  blackness,  the 
wrath  of  God  is  poured  out  in  fire. 

"The  songs  of  Robert  Burns  have  interpreted  the  thoughts 
of  love  wherever  lovers  have  wooed,  and  in  all  lands  wherever 
the  bonds  of  friendship  bind  men  together,  they  sing: 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  179 

"Should  auld  acquaintance  be  forgot, 

And  never  brought  to  mind; 

Should  auld  acquaintance  be  forgot, 

And  days  of  auld  lang  syne." 

"The  hard-headed  Scotchman  stood  for  self-government  in 
Scotland.  He  has  stood  for  self-government  everywhere.  In 
1775  he  stood  for  self-government  in  North  Carolina.  With 
the  resolute  daring  of  his  ancestors  he  defied  the  power  of  the 
British  Empire." 

Governor  Craig  then  showed  how  the  Scotchmen  have  been 
leaders  of  political  thought,  and  how  their  spirit  of  independ- 
ence had  formulated  the  ideals  of  democracy,  that  are  po- 
tential in  the  Republic  today. 

In  speaking  of  the  part  which  Flora  MacDonald  played  in 
connection  with  Prince  Charlie,  Governor  Craig  somewhat 
took  issue  with  Dr.  MacDonald.  He  said  that  he  thought  that 
Charles  Edward  was  unworthy  of  the  devotion  and  heroism 
of  the  MacDonalds,  that  the  Scotch  people  were  finer  than  the 
Stuart  Dynasty. 

He  compared  the  determination  of  the  people  of  the  South 
and  the  tenacity  with  which  they  held  to  their  ideals  of  gov- 
ernment, to  the  loyalty  of  the  Scotch  for  the  principles  which 
had  always  made  Scotland  a  free  and  unconquerable  country. 
There  was  a  great  cheering  when  he  said  that  in  the  hour  of 
her  greatest  travail  and  darkness,  the  people  of  the  State 
were  inspired  and  led  by  the  Scotchman,  Zeb.  Vance.  He  told 
how  in  the  time  of  trial  in  North  Carolina,  when  our  civiliza- 
tion was  threatened,  the  lion  of  the  Tribe  of  Democracy  stood 
upon  the  portico  of  the  National  Hotel  in  Raleigh,  and  with  a 
voice  that  sounded  like  a  trumpet  from  one  end  of  North  Car- 
olina to  the  other,  said  that  it  ought  to  be  more  tolerable  for 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  in  the  Day  of  Judgment  than  for  those 
enemies  of  the  State  in  North  Carolina. 


180  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 


THE  LEGACY  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY 

Accepting  The  Monument  To  The  Women  Of  The  Confederacy 

On  The  Occasion  Of  The  Unveiling  At  Raleigh, 

North  Carolina,  June  10th,   1914. 

NOTE:  This  speech  was  re-printed  many  times  by  special  request, 
and  has  received  more  commendation  perhaps  than  any  speech  ever 
delivered  by  Governor  Locke  Craig. 

The  State  accepts  this  monument  with  grateful  apprecia- 
tion. It  is  the  tribute  of  a  knightly  soldier  to  the  Women  of 
the  Confederacy. 

The  statue  is  epic:  Arms  and  the  Man.  Its  theme  is 
heroism  and  devotion;  the  inheritance  of  the  children  of  the 
South.  The  bronze  group  represents  the  grandmother  un- 
rolling to  the  eager  youth,  grasping  the  sword  of  his  father, 
the  scroll  of  the  father's  deeds.  The  bronze  etchings  on  the 
faces  of  the  pedestal  suggest  the  outlines  of  her  story.  To 
the  earnest  beholder  the  statue  is  illumined  with  unfolding 
meaning.     His  vision  will  determine  its  revelation. 

As  we  look  upon  it,  there  rises  out  of  the  past  a  time  when 
the  spirit  of  war  moved  upon  the  depths  of  human  thought, 
and  summoned  the  elemental  forces  to  titanic  strife.  We  feel 
the  throes  of  the  mighty  upheaval.  The  heavens  are  black 
with  tempests,  and  ominous  with  the  voices  of  ancient  war 
and  unutterable  woe.  We  see  "the  marshaling  in  arms,  and 
battle's  magnificently  stern  array."  Lovers  say  good-bye 
with  tokens  of  plighted  troth;  the  young  mother  and  the 
father  in  uniform,  kneel  together,  weeping  over  the  cradle  of 
their  new  born  babe;  there  are  tears  and  everlasting  fare- 
wells; the  cavalcades  are  filing  off;  the  tramp  of  innumerable 
armies  is  heard.  In  secret  the  mother — this  Woman  of  the 
Confederacy — prays  and  weeps  with  breaking  heart  for  the 
boy  who  marches  away  to  the  wild,  grand  music  of  the  bugles. 

We  hear  the  din  of  martial  hosts,  and  squadrons  galloping 
in  the  storm.  They  rush  to  the  onset  amid  the  rattle  of 
musketry  and  thunders  of  field  artillery.  They  defy  carnage 
and  death;  they  are  torn  by  bursting  shells,  they  are  pierced 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  181 

by  bullets  and  cut  with  steel;  they  stagger  and  fall  on  the 
bloody  ground;  the  resolute  survivors  close  in  and  press  on. 
In  the  crash  of  doom  the  gray  line  stands,  despising  hunger 
and  pain  and  death.  Before  the  numberless  battalions  they 
are  Vikings  in  the  hour  of  despair.  They  feel  the  pulsations 
of  the  unconquerable  hearts  that  beat  at  home.  At  home 
alone,  the  wives  and  mothers,  these  Women  of  the  Con- 
federacy, in  patience  and  suffering,  are  listening  for  the  com- 
ing of  those  who  will  never  return — will  never  return,  but 
march  on  forever  in  the  militant  hosts  of  the  heroic  of  all 
kindred  and  nations,  that  have  redeemed  and  glorified  the 
world. 

We  dedicate  this  monument  as  a  symbol  of  our  veneration. 
We  dedicate  this  monument  as  a  covenant  that  we  too,  in 
blessed  remembrance  of  them,  shall  strive  for  fidelity  and 
courage. 

In  unfaltering  obedience  Abraham  would  have  sacrificed 
Isaac.  For  this,  "the  Angel  of  the  Lord  called  unto  Abraham 
out  of  Heaven  and  said,  By  myself  have  I  sworn,  saith  the 
Lord,  for  because  thou  hast  done  this  thing,  and  hast  not 
withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son,  that  in  blessing  I  will  bless 
thee,  and  in  multiplying  I  will  multiply  thy  seed  as  the  stars 
of  the  heaven,  and  as  the  sand  which  is  upon  the  seashore; 
and  thy  seed  shall  possess  the  gate  of  his  enemies ;  and  in  thy 
seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed." 

The  Women  of  the  Confederacy,  in  supreme  consecration, 
did  lay  upon  the  altar  of  Dixie  their  first  born,  the  fairest  and 
the  bravest  of  the  world.  And  because  they  did  this  thing, 
we  too  are  the  Children  of  the  Covenant.  The  promise  to 
Abraham  was  not  alone  for  the  seed  of  Abraham.  It  is  the 
universal  decree,  divinely  beautiful  and  divinely  terrible.  It 
is  the  law  of  development  for  all  the  children  of  men.  Ever- 
lasting faith  is  a  well  of  strength  springing  up  into  everlast- 
ing life. 

Had  the  men  and  the  women  of  the  South  been  recreant, 
had  they  shrunk  from  the  sacrifice  of  war,  their  children 
today  would  be  the  disinherited  heirs  of  the  promise,  a  dis- 
honored and  a  degenerate  people. 


182  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

In  the  onward  march  of  the  race,  these  world  conflicts  must 
come.  That  people  survives,  gathers  strength,  becomes  puis- 
sant in  human  destiny  that  has  the  faith  and  the  courage  for 
the  supreme  issue.  The  immediate  result  is  not  the  final 
judgment.  Who  won  at  Thermopylae,  the  Persians  or  the 
Spartans?  Who  was  victorious  at  the  Alamo,  Santa  Anna 
or  Travis?  Who  triumphed,  Socrates  or  his  judges;  Jesus  or 
Pontius  Pilate? 

The  glory  of  France  is  the  Old  Guard  at  Waterloo.  The 
noblest  feelings  of  the  English  heart  are  stirred  by  the  Light 
Brigade  charging  to  death  at  Balaklava.  Lexington  and 
Guilford  Court  House  are  as  dear  to  us  as  Trenton  and  York- 
town. 

Disaster  does  not  always  destroy.  The  winds  may  blow; 
the  rains  may  descend ;  houses  and  lands  may  be  swept  away ; 
but  God  has  placed  His  bow  in  the  heavens  as  a  promise  that 
the  storm  shall  cease,  and  the  waters  subside;  the  scorching 
drouth  may  wither  the  fields,  untimely  frost  may  kill  our  corn 
and  fruit;  yet  in  the  procession  of  the  seasons,  the  rain  and 
sunshine  will  again  clothe  hill  and  mead  in  verdure,  and  har- 
vest fields  will  wave  in  golden  plenty.  Armies  may  be  de- 
stroyed, "Far  called,  our  navies  melt  away";  yet  from  a  land 
consecrated  by  the  blood  of  the  brave,  from  a  soil  enriched 
by  glorious  tradition,  tried  and  purified  by  fire,  a  nobler, 
stronger  race  will  come.  But  over  the  waste  of  moral  desola- 
tion, there  comes  no  rejuvenating  spring.  Upon  a  land 
blighted  by  the  cowardice  of  those  who  should  defend  it,  there 
is  the  judgment  of  decay  and  death. 

The  heroic  past  is  our  priceless  inheritance.  Our  armies 
were  destroyed ;  our  land  was  smitten  by  war ;  our  homes  were 
ravaged  by  avenging  armies.  We  were  plundered  by  the 
hordes  of  reconstruction.  But  standing  in  this  land  that  has 
suffered,  amid  this  throng  of  gray-haired  veterans,  and  their 
kindred  and  descendants,  I  declare  that  the  legacy  of  the  war 
is  our  richest  possession.  I  utter  the  sentiments  of  every 
maimed  soldier;  of  every  soldier  who  gave  the  best  of  his 
young  life  to  "the  storm-cradled  nation  that  fell,"  of  every 
bereaved  widow  and  mother;  and  if  I  could  speak  for  the 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  183 

dead,  I  would  utter  the  sentiment  of  the  forty  thousand  sons 
of  the  State  who  fell  upon  fields  of  battle,  when  I  declare  that 
they  would  not  revoke  that  sacrifice. 

Some  of  you  can  remember  when  the  young  soldier  was 
brought  home  dead,  when  the  maiden  was  clothed  in  her  first 
sorrow,  and  the  old  gray  head  was  bowed  in  the  last  grief. 
The  mothers  of  the  South  had  sent  their  sons  to  the  front  as 
the  Spartan  mother  when  she  delivered  the  shield  to  her  son 
with  the  command:  "Return  with  it,  or  upon  it."  They 
wept  in  silent  desolation,  but  in  their  grief  there  was  exalta- 
tion, for  they  knew  that  their  sons  had  done  a  soldier's  part, 
that  in  the  tumult  of  historic  days  they  had  fought  and  fallen 
beneath  the  advancing  flag;  that  in  strange  lands,  wounded 
and  neglected,  they  had  suffered  without  complaint,  and  be- 
queathing a  message  for  home,  had  died,  as  conquerors,  with- 
out a  murmur. 

"While  one  kissed  a  ringlet  of  thin  gray  hair, 
And  one  kissed  a  lock  of  brown." 

Hail  to  you,  Women  of  the  Confederacy,  that  bore  them 
and  nurtured  them,  and  offered  them  for  sacrifice!  In  you 
and  in  your  descendants  is  vouchsafed  the  promise  to  Abra- 
ham:    Henceforth  all  generations  shall  call  you  blessed. 

From  the  shadow  of  war  we  sweep  into  the  grander  day. 
The  earth  is  hallowed  because  it  is  the  sepulcher  of  the  brave ; 
not  men  whose  victories  have  been  inscribed  upon  triumphal 
columns,  but  men  whose  memorial  is,  that  in  courage  and 
loyalty  for  conviction,  they  were  steadfast  unto  death;  men 
who  have  been  stoned  and  scourged,  and  quailed  not  before 
the  mighty.  "Their  heroic  sufferings  rise  up  melodiously  to- 
gether to  Heaven  out  of  all  lands  and  out  of  all  times,  as  a 
sacred  Miserere;  their  heroic  actions  as  a  boundless  everlast- 
ing Psalm  of  Triumph."  They  are  the  conquerors.  The  South 
has  forever  a  part  in  that  chorus  of  victory. 


184  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 


OPPORTUNITIES  TO  THE  STATE  AND 

NATION  THROUGH  TRIUMPH  OF 

DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES 

(Winston-Salem,  October  20,  1914) 

NOTE:  The  account  of  this  speech  is  from  The  Winston-Salem 
Journal. 

Before  an  audience  numbering  fully  1,000  people,  Governor 
Locke  Craig,  of  North  Carolina,  last  night  delivered  at  the 
courthouse  one  of  the  most  superb  addresses  ever  heard  in 
Winston-Salem.  While  primarily  a  political  address,  at  times 
the  speaker  forgot  all  political  parties  in  his  vision  of  the 
ultimate  grandeur  of  the  American  Nation,  the  magnificent 
destiny  that  awaits  North  Carolina,  and  the  potential  factor 
that  the  Nation  is  destined  to  become. 

The  speaker  paid  a  glowing  tribute  to  the  splendid  sates- 
manship  of  Woodrow  Wilson;  graphically  described  the  inate 
tendency  of  mankind  to  seek  for  the  highest  and  the  best,  and 
showed  how  the  broad-minded  policies  of  Democracy  have 
played  an  important  part  in  enabling  mankind  more  readily 
to  approach  his  ideals;  spoke  beautifully  of  the  great  strides 
that  this  Nation  has  made,  and  its  ever-increasing  importance 
in  the  commercial  world,  and  also  along  those  lines  that  look 
to  soul-culture. 

He  told  of  weakness  of  Republican  policies;  spoke  of  the 
Forsyth  County  Democratic  candidates  in  terms  of  highest 
praise;  looked  upon  the  magnificent  strides  in  the  building  of 
good  roads  in  the  State  with  great  pleasure;  longed  for  the 
day  when  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  the  city  may  be 
seen  on  the  farms  in  the  State ;  and  likened  the  great  progress 
that  North  Carolina  is  making  now  to  the  beautiful  flight  of 
an  eagle  soaring  skyward,  its  vision  of  glory  and  grandeur 
constantly  becoming  greater  and  greater. 

Governor  Craig  preluded  his  address  with  reference  to 
the  words  of  introduction  by  Editor  Santford  Martin,  of  The 
Journal,  stating  that  it  was  the  second  time  he  had  been 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  185 

introduced  by  his  talented  friend.  "He  made  fine  speeches 
both  times,"  said  the  Governor.  "I  wish  he  would  keep  on 
speaking  all  night.  I  thank  him  for  his  words  of  eulogy  and 
I  wish  that  I  were  worthy  of  the  encomiums  of  praise  that  he 
has  placed  upon  me.  I  thank  him  for  it  the  more  because  I 
know  they  spring  from  a  generous  heart  and  from  loyal 
friendship." 

Governor  Craig  referred  to  the  elections  in  the  State  every 
two  years,  when  numerous  speeches  are  made;  and  the  pro- 
blems before  the  people  are  closely  considered.  It  is  in  the 
elections  that  the  problems  of  the  Nation  are  solved.  He 
characterized  the  United  States  as  the  greatest  country  in 
the  world ;  there  is  no  other  country  in  the  world  like  it.  One 
can  get  on  a  train  in  the  East  and  travel  westward  for  3,000 
miles  and  everywhere  he  stops  he  will  see  people  like  himself, 
speaking  the  same  language,  inspired  by  the  same  ideals,  and 
having  about  the  same  religion.  Whether  the  people  come 
from  Norway,  Sweden,  Germany  or  from  elsewhere  they  soon 
become  part  and  parcel  of  this  great  Government. 

Following  his  tribute  to  the  greatness  of  the  American 
Nation,  Governor  Craig,  likewise,  paid  a  glowing  tribute  to 
the  American  people.  He  characterided  them  as  being  the 
most  industrious  people  in  the  world,  the  most  intelligent,  the 
best  educated,  the  hardest  working.  Through  the  genius  of 
the  American  people,  more  has  been  accomplished  in  an  eco- 
nomic way  in  the  past  century  than  ever  before. 

Man,  he  declared,  is  a  progressive  animal.  He  is  not  con- 
tent with  the  real  but  conceives  of  an  ideal  and  promptly  sets 
about  to  realize  it.  He  pictured  primeval  man  with  all  his 
crudeness,  striving  through  the  centuries  to  better  his  condi- 
tions. In  matchless  flow  of  eloquence  he  pictured  mankind  on 
his  upward  march,  through  the  early  stages  of  his  develop- 
ment, his  early  methods  of  transportation. 

From  the  scanty  desires  that  first  took  possession  of  the 
human  heart,  he  pictured  the  growth  of  culture  and  refine- 
ment; from  the  crude  early  days  and  desires  to  the  time  when 
man  began  to  build  palaces  and  to  strive  for  those  things  for 
which  the  soul  aspires. 


186  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

And  today,  humanity's  commerce  is  carried  on  everywhere. 
Man  has  harnessed  steam  and  electricity,  drives  them  like  an 
ox,  and  forces  them  to  do  his  bidding.  And  they  create 
wealth  for  him  and  serve  him  as  an  errand  boy.  America  is 
the  foremost  Nation  in  this  great  march  of  progress. 

After  graphically  picturing  the  rise  of  the  individual  in 
this  great  Republic,  the  speaker  attacked  the  Republican 
Party's  use  of  power  in  the  government  in  years  gone  by; 
told  how  they  pursued  the  policy  of  enriching  a  few  people  at 
the  expense  of  the  many.  Showed  how  the  national  Repub- 
lican policies  had  a  tendency  to  aid  the  few,  how  it  was  op- 
posed to  the  great  principle  of  equal  justice  for  all,  the  key- 
note of  Democracy's  appeal.  He  told  of  how  the  tyranny  of 
the  Republican  rule  caused  many  Republicans  to  revolt,  finally 
resulting  in  the  election  of  Woodrow  Wilson.  He  pictured 
the  demise  of  the  Republican  Party,  declaring  that  only  one 
well  organized  party  now  exists  in  the  Nation — the  Demo- 
cratic Party. 

He  told  of  a  colored  minister  who  sometimes  got  mixed  in 
his  Scripture  who  was  telling  his  congregation  about  Jezebel. 
He  declared  that  the  minister  said  that  while  Paul  was  preach- 
ing in  Ephesus  that  Jezebel  fell  from  the  temple  and  was 
broken  into  a  thousand  pieces;  that  the  dogs  came  and  licked 
her  sores,  and  that  of  the  fragments  twelve  baskets  full  were 
gathered  up!  He  applied  the  illustration  to  the  Republican 
Party  but  saw  no  resurrection  for  it. 

He  pictured  the  great  opportunities  offered  for  advance- 
ment along  all  lines  with  the  advent  of  Democratic  principles. 
The  decks  are  cleared  for  action,  he  said,  and  politically  speak- 
ing, the  Democratic  Party  is  the  "Old  Ship  of  Zion."  He  paid 
a  glowing  tribute  to  the  men  who  through  forty  years  of 
adversity  have  clung  to  the  Democratic  faith,  knowing  it  to 
be  the  party  that  is  right  and  that  it  could  not  be  destroyed. 

He  declared  that  a  certain  Progressive  has  characterized 
the  Republican  Party  as  "a  rotten  hulk,  loaded  with  plunder, 
with  lead  for  its  sails,  filled  with  the  wrath  of  God,  and  having 
Hell  as  its  nearest  port."  He  told  of  another  charge  that  it 
was  in  league  with  the  invisible  empire  of  greed  at  the  ex- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  187 

pense  of  the  people.  He  said  that  all  these  years  the  Repub- 
lican ship  has  been  a  pirate  ship,  preying  upon  the  great  mass 
of  the  people  of  the  country.  But,  he  declared,  Woodrow 
Wilson  has  driven  the  pirate  from  the  high  seas.  The  ma- 
chinery of  government  has  been  returned  to  the  people  where 
it  belongs.  No  longer  is  $10.00  paid  into  the  public  treasury 
while  hundreds  are  poured  into  the  coffers  of  the  immensely 
rich. 

In  eloquent  words,  Governor  Craig  told  of  how  Woodrow 
Wilson  has  brought  about  a  great  change  in  heretofore  exist- 
ing conditions;  how  the  vast  tax  on  the  people  at  large  for 
the  benefit  of  the  wealthy  has  been  removed,  and  the  enor- 
mous incomes  of  the  wealthy  have  been  taxed  to  help  bear 
the  burdens  of  administering  the  affairs  of  the  Nation.  The 
almost  inconceivable  tribute  that  has  heretofore  been  levied 
on  the  common  people  has  been  removed.  He  told  of  the  new 
tariff  law;  how  the  Government  has  been  restored  again  to 
the  people,  and  taken  from  the  hands  of  organized  greed. 

Governor  Craig  declared  that  the  financial  center  of  the 
Government  is  now  no  longer  in  Wall  Street  but  in  the  Federal 
Treasury,  how  no  panics  can  occur  now  through  scarcity  of 
money. 

The  speaker  said  that  some  Republicans  say  that  the  Dem- 
ocratic Party  is  responsible  for  the  low  price  of  cotton.  He 
declared  that  if  that  is  true  that  the  Republican  administra- 
tion is  responsible  for  hookworm  and  pallagra,  as  they  broke 
out  during  a  Republican  administration. 

Interestingly,  the  speaker  told  of  the  international  law  of 
commerce  upon  which  the  price  of  cotton  is  based;  upon  the 
world's  visible  supply  and  the  demand.  He  showed  how  only 
something  over  one-third  of  the  crop  is  consumed  in  this 
country,  and  the  remainder  is  exported  to  those  European 
Nations  now  engaged  in  war.  Cotton  is  not  low,  he  explained, 
but  the  coming  on  of  the  war  stopped  the  demand  for  it.  He 
showed  how  at  the  beginning  oi  the  present  year  that  cotton 
was  selling  for  fourteen  cents,  but  the  great  conflict  had  its 
result.  However,  he  stated  that  cotton  has  sold  low  before, 
for  instance  under  McKinley's  administration  in  1898  when 


188  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

it  brought  four  cents.  Likewise  during  the  latter  part  of 
Taft's  administration  it  sold  for  eight  cents. 

The  speaker  explained  why  the  cotton  crop  cannot  be  sent 
to  Europe  now.  The  channels  of  trade  have  been  stopped. 
But  Governor  Craig  expressed  the  hope  that  the  same  fine 
diplomacy  of  Wilson  in  avoiding  a  conflict  with  Mexico  would 
devise  some  way  in  which  to  get  cotton  to  Europe,  and  thus 
relieve  the  cotton  planters  of  the  Southern  States. 

In  the  great  misfortune  that  has  overtaken  the  Southern 
farmers  by  the  lack  of  a  market  for  the  surplus  cotton  raised, 
the  speaker  declared  that  he  is  glad  that  there  are  men  in 
power  at  the  White  House  today  whose  sympathies  are  with 
the  common  people  and  not  with  organized  wealth.  That  the 
men  in  Washington  are  busying  themselves  in  every  way  pos- 
sible to  help  the  farmers  in  whom  they  are  deeply  interested. 
He  referred  to  the  splendid  efforts  of  Secretary  McAdoo  to 
meet  the  many  difficult  calls  made  upon  his  ability. 

In  the  restoration  of  the  affairs  of  government  to  the  peo- 
ple, Governor  Craig  told  of  the  splendid  part  the  South  has 
played.  He  referred  to  the  devotion  of  the  South  to  the  cause 
of  Democracy  through  many  years,  how  its  people  remained 
true  to  the  principles  of  the  party  without  deviation,  although 
the  Republicans  asked  them  to  come  over  to  their  side  and 
share  in  the  fruits  of  Republican  victory  in  the  Nation. 

He  told  of  the  constant  struggle  of  the  South  to  bring 
Democratic  principles  to  victory  again,  and  how  against  great 
odds  the  people  always  stood  solidly  for  the  party  and  its 
principles  which  are  immortal.  And  he  told  of  how  finally  it 
came  to  pass  that  a  man  born  in  Virginia  and  educated  in 
North  Carolina  was  elected  as  President;  and  how  he  has 
come  to  formulate  laws  that  guarantee  justice  and  equal 
opportunities  to  all  men. 

Governor  Craig  likened  the  Democratic  Party  to  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  and  the  Republican  Party  to  his  dog.  An  apple  fell 
from  a  tree  and  the  mind  of  Newton  thereby  discovered  the 
law  of  gravity;  while  the  dog  only  saw  the  apple  fall  from 
the  tree.  The  mind  of  man  is  not  satisfied  with  anything 
short  of  the  infinite.     Democracy  believes  in  the  everlasting 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  189 

progress  of  humanity.  Democracy  believes  in  the  universal 
equality  of  men.  In  the  difference  in  men,  the  speaker  only 
saw  a  difference  in  environment;  in  opportunity.  He  told  of 
the  ugly  woman  Sam  Jones  saw.  The  woman's  husband  re- 
sented the  way  in  which  the  famous  evangelist  looked  at  her 
for  she  had  a  reputation  for  her  ugliness.  He  saw  Jones  after 
the  service  and  said,  "Look  here,  Mr.  Jones,  I  want  you  to 
know  that  my  wife  is  the  most  beautiful  woman  in  the  world. 
Beauty  is  only  skin  deep."  And  Jcnes  replied,  "Well,  for 
heaven's  sake  skin  her." 

The  speaker  took  the  opportunity  offered  to  briefly  discuss 
the  proposed  constitutional  amendments.  He  spoke  especi- 
ally of  the  amendment  relating  to  taxation.  He  said  that 
there  is  no  effort  to  increase  taxes;  but  that  it  is  desired  to 
give  the  Legislature  power  to  segregate  taxes;  so  that 
property  may  be  taxed  for  county  taxes;  and  railroads  and 
corporations  taxed  to  support  the  State. 

He  declared  that  the  land  values  are  too  low;  that  they 
will  continue  to  be  as  long  as  the  present  system  of  taxation 
obtains.  He  declared  that  there  are  men  who  hide  their  sol- 
vent credits,  that  it  is  a  universal  custom  in  the  State;  that 
the  system  now  is  responsible  for  it. 

Likewise,  the  speaker  wanted  the  counties  to  transact  their 
business  at  home  without  carrying  purely  local  matters  to 
the  State  Legislature.  He  would  also  strike  out  the  word 
"rebellion"  from  the  Constitution  of  the  State. 

Governor  Craig  referred  to  the  magnificent  progress  that 
the  State  is  making  in  the  building  of  good  roads ;  he  declared 
that  by  the  time  his  term  of  oifice  is  completed  that  every 
county  in  North  Carolina  will  have  a  great  system  of  good 
roads.  He  spoke  of  the  splendid  work  that  Mr.  P.  H.  Hanes, 
of  this  city,  has  done  for  the  cause  of  good  roads;  how  the 
disposition  of  the  people  of  Forsyth  County  to  help  them- 
selves in  the  matter  of  building  good  roads  led  to  his  interest 
in  having  a  part  of  the  government  good  road  appropriation 
spent  in  Forsyth  County. 

He  declared  that  good  roads  are  great  civilizing  factors; 
that  they  will  paint  school  houses,  build  fine  churches,  place 


190  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

music  in  the  rural  homes,  make  better  and  happier  women 
and  children  on  the  farms.  He  rejoiced  in  the  rapid  growth 
of  the  cities  of  the  State  but  desired  to  see  greater  improve- 
ments on  the  farms  of  the  State ;  conveniences  for  women  on 
the  farms  to  make  their  burdens  lighter.  In  a  prophetic  man- 
ner, the  speaker  pictured  the  North  Carolina  of  the  future 
when  the  farms  of  the  land  will  blossom  as  a  rose  of  a 
thousand  leaves,  and  everything  possible  will  be  done  for  the 
comfort  and  convenience  of  the  women  in  the  rural  sections 
of  the  State.  He  pictured  it  as  an  era  of  sanitation,  con- 
venience, and  happiness  and  for  the  people  on  the  farms  of 
the  State. 

Likewise,  Governor  Craig  spoke  of  the  Forsyth  County 
Democratic  ticket.  He  declared  Hon.  H.  G.  Chatham,  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  the  State  Senate,  to  be  a  tried  and 
proven  knight  of  Democracy.  He  characterized  him  as  com- 
ing from  a  race  of  men  who  have  always  done  their  utmost 
to  build  up  North  Carolina  in  every  way  possible;  as  a  man 
who  will  falter  at  no  time  in  his  duty ;  and  as  a  man  who  will 
represent  poor  men  and  rich  men  in  the  same  way.  "He  is 
the  friend  of  all  men,"  declared  the  speaker.  "He  believes  in 
equal  rights  and  equal  justice  to  all." 

He  also  declared  that  the  Democratic  candidates  for  the 
Legislature,  as  well  as  all  the  other  Democratic  candidates, 
are  men  eminently  fitted  to  serve  the  great  people  of  Forsyth 
County. 

Governor  Craig  concluded  his  address  with  a  beautiful 
word  picture.  He  told  how  he  was  standing  on  Mount  Mitchell. 
That  he  saw  an  eagle  rise  in  the  billowy  clouds.  On  and  on, 
higher  and  higher  it  mounted  into  the  skies,  brushing  away 
the  billows  here  and  there,  soaring  upward  until  at  length  its 
royal  plumage  was  bathed  in  the  grandeur  of  the  sun's  rays 
as  it  looked  out  upon  the  entrancing  scene.  That,  said  the 
Governor,  is  the  way  North  Carolina  is  climbing  now,  its  part 
in  the  development  of  the  Nation  is  becoming  grander  and 
grander,  and  the  future  is  most  encouraging. 

Introduced  By  Mr.  Martin 

After  making  some  announcements  relative  to  some  Demo- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  191 

cratic  speakings  in  the  county,  Chairman  Gilbert  T.  Stephen- 
son, of  the  Forsyth  County  Democratic  Executive  Committee, 
introduced  Mr.  Santford  Martin,  Editor  of  The  Winston- 
Salem  Journal,  and  he  introduced  the  distinguished  speaker 
in  a  brief,  but  eloquent  manner. 

Mr.  Martin  referred  in  an  interesting  manner  to  the  great 
achievements  of  the  Democratic  Party  in  the  Nation;  of  the 
matchless  leadership  of  Woodrow  Wilson ;  and  of  the  splendid 
stand  that  North  Carolinians  have  taken  in  the  halls  of  Con- 
gress. 

Likewise  he  told  of  the  splendid  progress  in  North  Caro- 
lina; and  he  asserted  that  Governor  Locke  Craig's  adminis- 
tration means  as  much  to  North  Carolina  as  Wilson's  does  to 
the  United  States.  He  said  that  Governor  Craig's  adminis- 
tration has  been  characterized  by  constructive  achievement — 
notably  his  magnificent  work  for  the  State  in  the  solution  of 
the  freight  rate  matter  without  having  the  matter  entangled 
in  long  and  tedious  litigation.  Also  under  his  administration, 
the  ten  proposed  amendments,  the  adoption  of  which  will 
enable  the  State  to  grow  properly,  have  been  put  forward. 

Mr.  Martin  told  of  the  Governor's  faithful  attention  to 
duties ;  that  not  a  single  charge  has  been  lodged  against  him. 


192  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

ACCEPTING  THE  BUST  OF  JUDGE 
WILLIAM  GASTON 

(November  24th,  1914) 

We  have  listened  with  delight  and  profit  to  the  scholarly, 
masterful  and  sympathetic  portrayal  of  the  character  of 
William  Gaston.  We  have  heard  the  elegant  and  graceful 
presentation  of  the  marble  bust. 

The  State  accepts  this  statue,  and  with  gratitude  to  the 
Bar  Association  of  North  Carolina.  It  will  be  placed  in  one 
of  the  halls  of  the  Supreme  Court  Building,  there  to  dwell 
through  the  coming  centuries  with  the  portraits  and  the 
statues  of  those  who  have  ennobled  the  State,  and  contributed 
to  the  strength  and  glory  of  the  English-speaking  race. 

William  Gaston  has  of  right  a  place  in  this  Pantheon  of 
our  great  men — primus  inter  pares.  His  profound  mind  was 
enlarged  and  adorned  by  the  erudition  of  the  student,  and 
the  culture  of  the  man  of  letters.  As  orator,  statesman  and 
judge,  he  was  among  the  very  foremost,  and  devoted  all  of 
his  splendid  gifts  and  attainments  to  the  service  of  his 
country,  and  to  the  service  of  men.  He  belonged  to  the  first 
order  of  nobility,  and  ever  maintained  his  ideals  and  his 
character  in  exalted  purity.  He  set  the  highest  standard  for 
private  place  and  for  public  office.  He  gave  a  tone  to  the  life 
of  the  State  in  the  time  of  her  youth  that  vitalizes  and 
strengthens  her  now,  and  in  the  future.  North  Carolina  will 
ever  remember  and  cherish  him,  for  he  is  to  us  an  inheritance 
more  precious  than  wealth  or  rich  gifts,  or  princely  endow- 
ments. 

The  men  and  the  women  of  this  and  other  generations, 
who  aspire  to  higher  things,  will  look  upon  this  statue  to  re- 
member, to  admire,  and  to  emulate  his  life. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  193 

ACCEPTING  THE  STATUE  OF  CHIEF 
JUSTICE  EUFFIN 

(February  1st,  1915) 

We  have  listened  with  pleasure  and  profit  to  the  fitting 
and  eloquent  tributes  pronounced  upon  Judge  Ruffin. 

It  has  been  the  duty  of  the  State  to  erect  a  statue  to  our 
pre-eminent  jurist.  We  accept  this  splendid  statue  with 
gratitude  to  those  who  gave  it.  In  just  recognition  of  the 
character  and  the  intellect  of  the  great  Chief  Justice,  we  will 
place  it  in  the  entrance  hall  of  this  building,  the  place  for  the 
memorials  of  the  highest  and  the  noblest  of  our  men  in  all 
generations.  There  it  will  live  through  the  centuries  typify- 
ing in  majestic  form  the  majestic  man  of  pure  purpose  and 
master  mind.  In  the  plastic  years  of  our  history  he  gave 
form  and  order  to  our  jurisprudence.  He  interpreted  statutes 
and  constitutions  with  the  wisdom  of  the  sages,  and  delivered 
judgments  that  are  enduring  precedents  of  righteousness. 
He  was  our  judge,  a  distinctive  product  of  North  Carolina, 
but  his  influence  is  beyond  the  limitations  of  the  State  and 
the  Nation.  He  is  recognized  everywhere  as  one  of  the 
greatest  judges  that  our  race  has  produced.  In  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth,  where  the  English  jurisprudence  exercises 
its  beneficent  rule,  he  speaks  and  will  speak  to  legislatures, 
to  courts,  and  to  executives,  directing  and  enlightening  them 
in  the  way  of  truth  and  in  the  conception  and  the  administra- 
tion of  justice. 

We  raise  the  statue  in  gratitude  that  the  Old  North  State, 
too,  has  produced  a  judge  that  gives  laws  to  the  judges  of  the 
earth.  We  raise  the  statue  to  teach  to  us  and  to  our  children 
the  power  and  the  majesty  of  an  exalted  life. 


194  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

ACCEPTING  THE  BUST  OF  JUDGE 
W.  P.  BYNUM 

(April  12tth,  1915) 

With  gratitude  North  Carolina  accepts  from  the  Bar 
Association  this  statue  of  William  Preston  Bynum.  It  shall 
be  placed  in  this  our  Pantheon  with  the  statues  of  our  fore- 
most and  noblest  men. 

He  established  his  title  to  this  high  place  by  intellect  and 
character.  Through  a  long  and  eventful  career,  he  performed 
his  task  with  fidelity  and  courage;  in  peace  and  in  war;  in 
public  and  in  private  life.  His  broad  sympathies  were  ex- 
pressed in  acts  of  kindness  and  in  generous  munificence.  His 
obligations  to  society  were  discharged  by  stern  and  truthful 
maintenance  of  his  own  convictions. 

As  a  Supreme  Court  Judge  he  ranks  with  the  masters  of 
our  jurisprudence  and  the  builders  of  the  English  Law.  His 
opinions  are  the  clear  and  virile  expressions  of  the  just  and 
robust  heart  and  mind. 

The  most  conspicuous  part  of  his  life  was  through  the 
stormy  and  intolerant  period  that  followed  the  war.  Judge 
Bynum  was  not  in  accord  with  the  convictions  of  the  State, 
but  with  the  determination  and  force  of  his  race  he  was 
steadfast  to  his  own  convictions.  Through  this  time  of  bitter- 
ness and  strife,  he  never  forgot  that  he  was  a  citizen  and  a 
patriot,  inspired  by  the  sentiments  and  traditions  of  his  State, 
true  to  the  highest  allegiance  of  his  land  and  people.  The 
exalted  estimate  accorded  him  at  all  times  is  the  finest 
tribute  to  him  and  to  the  just  judgment  of  the  people  of 
North  Carolina. 

We  erect  to  him  this  memorial  in  marble  to  dwell  here 
through  the  generations,  that  men  may  look  upon  it  to  admire 
and  to  emulate  his  virtues. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  195 

INAUGURATION   OF   EDWARD   KIDDER 

GRAHAM  AS  PRESIDENT  OF  THE 

STATE  UNIVERSITY 

(Chapel  Hill,  April  21st,  1915) 

This  assemblage  is  worthy  of  its  purpose.  Great  seats  of 
learning  in  near  and  distant  States  have  sent  their  Presidents 
with  messages  of  cheer  and  wisdom.  Scholars  who  cultivate 
ideals,  and  statesmen  who  construct  policies  of  government 
have  come.  From  field  and  factory  and  busy  mart,  represen- 
tative men  and  women  who  build  and  support  the  State  have 
gathered  today.  We  are  grateful  that  you  are  here.  We  feel 
the  encouragement  and  sustaining  power  of  your  presence. 
We  realize,  too,  that  throughout  our  Commonwealth  the  pul- 
sations of  an  earnest  people  beat  in  sympathy  with  us. 

We  come  to  dedicate  a  man  to  his  work.  It  demands  the 
energy  of  his  life  always  steafast  to  the  high  obligation  that 
he  assumes.  The  task  calls  for  the  noblest,  for  it  is  the  keep- 
ing and  the  development  of  this  institution  sanctified  by  tra- 
dition, potential  for  infinite  good. 

On  this  day  of  the  inauguration  of  the  new  President,  by 
simple  ceremonial  we  devote  anew  this  University  to  the  ser- 
vice of  men,  and  in  this  time  of  militant  altruism  significant 
of  human  destiny,  with  victorious  assurance  we  give  the  for- 
ward order.  We  raise  him  to  this  exalted  place  because  he  is 
worthy  of  our  past,  equal  to  the  opportunities  of  the  future, 
and  because  he  will  lay  upon  the  altar  of  this  his  alma  mater, 
a  priceless  sacrifice,  essential  in  every  scheme  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  men:  a  pure  and  earnest  life. 

This  place  is  endeared  to  us  by  precious  memories.  The 
finest  spirit  of  the  past  is  perpetuated  here  and  ever  evolves 
unto  higher  and  broader  meaning.  Through  all  our  genera- 
tions, this  University  has  been  to  us  a  well  of  strength  spring- 
ing up  into  perennial  life.  She  enlarges  her  efforts  with 
larger  opportunities  and  with  faith  and  courage  welcomes  in- 
creasing responsibilities. 


196  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

In  the  age  of  "the  steamship  and  the  railway,  the  thoughts 
that  shake  mankind,"  this  is  no  academy  of  the  cloister,  nor 
the  voice  for  every  wind  of  doctrine.  This  University  has 
been  and  will  be  the  exponent  of  the  State's  power,  the  dy- 
namics of  the  State's  life.  Amid  the  strife  and  confusion  of 
our  aggressive  democracy  she  shall  be  vitalized  by  the  cur- 
rents that  flow  from  humanity,  and  in  full  sympathy  strike 
the  clear  note  for  higher  aspiration  and  nobler  achievement. 
Sustained  by  all  the  people,  owing  allegiance  to  no  man,  and 
to  naught  but  God's  truth,  she  can  declare  with  authority  the 
creed  of  enduring  progress.  Reaching  to  all  classes,  and  con- 
ditions she  shall  gather  unto  her  bosom  the  robust  sons  of 
the  State  to  send  them  forth  as  ministers  of  a  splendid  des- 
tiny, "With  power  in  this  dark  land  to  lighten  it,  and  power 
on  this  dead  world  to  make  it  live." 

The  man  and  the  hour  have  met.  We  are  opening  a  new 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  197 


COMMUTATION  OF  THE  SENTENCE  OF 
IDA  BALL  WARREN 

(March,  1916) 

NOTE:  The  only  woman  ever  sentenced  in  North  Carolina  to  the 
electric  chair  was  Ida  Ball  Warren,  of  Forsyth  County,  who  was  con- 
victed of  first  degree  murder  in  the  killing  of  her  husband,  in  which 
crime  she  had  been  assisted  by  her  lover,  Samuel  P.  Christy.  Their 
prayer  for  commutation  of  the  death  sentence  to  life  imprisonment 
came  before  Governor  Craig.  There  was  much  feeling  at  the  time 
over  the  enormity  of  the  crime  committed,  and  the  Governor  was 
urged  on  all  sides  to  mete  out  to  this  murderess  the  same  justice  that 
a  man  would  receive,  and  to  allow  her  to  pay  for  her  sin  by  going  to 
the  death  chair.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  some  who  chivalrously 
contended  for  her  womanhood.  All  were  anxiously  awaiting  the  action 
of  the  Governor,  believing  that  it  would  establish  a  precedent  in  regard 
to  women  criminals  in  North  Carolina.  Finally  he  gave  his  decision, 
using  his  mighty  power  as  the  State's  Chief  Executive,  and  stepped 
between  this  wretched  woman,  and  the  death  sentence  which  she  had 
admittedly  incurred.  His  reasons  are  given  here  below,  and  are  an 
eloquent  tribute  to  all  womanhood: 

Granting  the  commutation,  Governor  Craig  made  the  fol- 
lowing statement  concerning  his  action: 

"The  people  of  North  Carolina  in  their  constitution  declare, 
'The  Governor  shall  have  power  to  grant  reprives,  commuta- 
tions and  pardons  after  conviction  for  all  offenses  (except  in 
the  case  of  impeachment)  upon  such  conditions  as  he  may 
think  proper  and  subject  to  such  regulations  as  may  be  pro- 
vided by  law  relative  to  the  manner  of  applying  for  pardons.' 
The  power  to  pardon  or  to  commute  thus  conferred  upon  the 
Governor  has  no  limitation  but  his  own  conception  of  duty. 
It  is  the  highest  and  most  sacred  trust  vested  by  law.  It 
must  be  exercised  in  humane  regard  for  the  condemned  and 
for  the  rights  and  welfare  of  society. 

"When  a  petition  for  pardon  or  commutation  is  placed  be- 
fore the  Governor  he  must  act.  He  cannot  avoid  the  respon- 
sibility. His  action  is  in  the  orderly  process  of  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  provided  in  the  Constitution.  His  judgment 
is  the  final  decree  of  the  people  and  the  law  pronounced  by  the 
ultimate  tribunal. 


198  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

"There  is  no  escape  from  the  conclusion  that  this  woman, 
Ida  Ball  Warren,  is  guilty  of  murder,  deliberate  and  pre- 
meditated, conceived  and  executed  in  determined  wickedness. 
The  verdict  of  the  jury  is  fully  sustained  by  the  evidence;  the 
sentence  of  the  court  is  fixed  by  the  statute. 

"But,  as  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  it 
is  not  my  judgment  that  the  majesty  of  the  law  demands  that 
this  woman  shall  be  put  to  death.  I  cannot  contemplate  with 
approval  that  this  woman,  unworthy  and  blackened  by  sin 
though  she  be,  shall  be  shrouded  in  the  cerements  of  death, 
dragged  along  the  fatal  corridor  and  bound  in  the  chair  of 
death.  The  spy  has  in  all  countries  been  punished  by  death. 
Germany  executed  the  woman  spy;  England  did  not.  The 
action  of  the  Military  Governor  of  Belgium  was  condemned 
by  the  conscience  of  the  world. 

"The  killing  of  this  woman  would  send  a  shiver  through 
North  Carolina.  Humanity  does  not  apply  to  woman  the  in- 
exonorable  law  that  it  does  to  man.  This  may  arise  from 
misconceived  sentimentality;  it  may  arise  from  the  deep  and 
holy  instincts  of  the  race. 

"The  participation  of  Christy  in  this  murder  makes  more 
difficult  the  question  presented  to  me.  He,  too,  is  guilty.  He 
bought  the  chloroform  with  which  she  drugged  her  husband. 
Either  Christy,  or  Stonestreet,  her  son-in-law,  twisted  a  cord 
tightly  around  the  husband's  neck  to  make  sure  that  he  could 
never  awake  from  the  deadly  sleep.  The  body  was  placed  in 
a  trunk,  Christy  and  Stonestreet  hauled  it  away  and  threw 
it,  weighted  with  irons,  into  a  deep  hole  in  Muddy  Creek.  The 
woman  conceived  the  design  and  was  the  directing  and  domi- 
nating personality  of  this  tragedy.  Since  life  has  been  spared 
to  her,  Christy,  too,  must  escape  death. 

"This  action  is  in  accord  with  my  conception  of  the  just 
and  humane  administration  of  the  law.  It  is  recommended  by 
many  of  our  strongest,  wisest  and  best  people.  Many  good 
men  do  not  approve  of  any  commutation  of  the  judgment  of 
the  court.    The  responsibility  of  the  decision  rests  with  me." 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  199 

INTRODUCING  PRESIDENT  WILSON 
AT  CHARLOTTE 

The  Anniversary  Of  The  Signing  Of  The  Mecklenburg 
Declaration  Of  Independence. 

(May  20th,  1916) 

"My  fellow-citizens  of  the  State  of  Mecklenburg,"  said 
Governor  Craig,  "I  wish  to  assure  our  honored  guest  today 
that  he  has  never  come  to  a  State,  or  spoken  to  a  people  more 
loyal  to  him  and  the  great  work  he  has  done  and  the  great 
cause  for  which  he  stands  than  this.  I  have  the  honor,  my 
fellow-countrymen  of  North  Carolina  and  South  Carolina  and 
the  region  round  about,  to  present  you  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States!" 


COMMENCEMENT  ADDRESS 

A.  &  T.  College  (Colored)  Greensboro,  North 
Carolina,  May  26th,  1916 

Our  government  and  liberty  should  guarantee  to  all  our 
people  the  possibilities  to  attain  to  the  highest  and  best  that 
is  in  them,  and  unless  it  does  this  it  is  a  mockery  and  a  fraud 
and  an  insult  in  the  face  of  God,  said  the  Hon.  Governor  Locke 
Craig  in  addressing  a  great  throng  assembled  to  witness  the 
graduating  exercises  of  the  Agricultural  and  Technical  Col- 
lege, of  this  city,  this  morning.  The  greatest  commencement 
exercises  in  the  history  of  the  school  were  brought  to  a  close 
by  the  awarding  of  the  diplomas  and  certificates  to  the  grad- 
uates by  Prof.  M.  C.  S.  Noble,  Head  of  the  Department  of 
Pedagogy  at  the  University  of  North  Carolina  and  Chairman 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  for  the  A.  &  T.  College. 

Governor  Craig  took  occasion  to  state  in  his  opening  re- 
marks: "I  have  been  beseiged  by  so  many  requests  to  speak 
at  commencement  exercises  at  different  points  in  the  State 


200  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

that  I  have  found  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  attempt  to  even 
fill  a  few  of  the  invitations.  However,  I  resolved  to  attend 
this  commencement  exercise  because  I  had  been  deprived  of 
the  privilege  so  many  times  of  attending  and  because  of  my 
personal  acquaintance  and  admiration  for  your  President,  Dr. 
James  B.  Dudley,  and  I  wish  to  congratulate  the  people  of 
North  Carolina  upon  having  a  man  like  Dr.  Dudley  who  is 
admired  for  his  ability  and  leadership  everywhere. 

"We  are  living  in  the  greatest  age  of  all  history.  We  have 
done  more  during  the  past  generation  than  all  other  genera- 
tions put  together.  We  have  accumulated  great  masses  of 
wealth  and  built  mansions  and  laid  railroads  and  dug  canals 
and  built  macadamized  roads  and  what  are  we  going  to  do 
with  all  this  wealth?  We  all  enjoy  money  but  this  is  not  the 
ultimate  end  in  life.  Government  itself  is  only  a  means  to 
an  end.  We  glory  in  our  government  and  its  flag  but  this  is 
not  the  end  of  society.  Liberty  itself  is  only  meant  for  an 
end.  That  end  is  to  guarantee  to  each  the  privilege  to  attain 
to  his  highest  possibilities  and  unless  our  government  means 
this  it  means  nothing;  unless  it  means  this,  it  is  a  mockery 
and  a  fraud  and  an  insult  in  the  face  of  God. 

"If  you  contemplate  man,  one  fact  is  most  prominent;  the 
moral  and  intellectual  difference  in  men.  If  you  consider  the 
worst  man  with  the  best  man,  the  difference  is  as  great  as 
the  east  is  from  the  west  or  a  demon  from  an  archangel. 
Three  things  make  up  life;  blood,  will  power  and  environ- 
ment. Take  one  of  these  boys  and  give  him  a  chance  and 
encouragement  and  let  him  know  what  he  can  do  for  society 
and  he  will  be  better  than  those  who  have  been  left  behind 
him." 

Speaking  further,  Mr.  Craig  said:  "I  regret  very  much 
to  have  to  go  before  hearing  all  of  this  program,  but  I  do  not 
believe  that  the  beautiful  and  grand  of  our  Southern  life  can 
be  more  adequately  expressed  than  in  those  old  melodies  you 
have  so  well  sung  just  now.  No  wonder  you  get  religion  when 
you  hear  these  songs  sung  at  campmeetings  and  revivals.  We 
all  would." 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  201 


COMMENCEMENT  ADDRESS 

At  The  Closing  Exercises  Of  The  North  Carolina 
School  For  The  Deaf,  June  1,  1916 

(From  The  News-Herald,  Morganton) 

Hon.  Locke  Craig,  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  was  at  his 
best  in  an  address  which  he  delivered  at  the  Deaf  School  yes- 
terday morning.  The  large  auditorium  was  filled  with  the 
teachers  and  older  pupils  of  the  school  and  numbers  of  ad- 
miring friends  from  the  town. 

The  Governor  was  introduced  in  a  most  pleasing  and  elo- 
quent manner  by  Rev.  J.  O.  Atkinson,  of  Elon  College,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  School. 

This  occasion,  Governor  Craig  stated,  was  his  first  visit 
to  the  school  since  he  became  Governor.  He  has  been  very 
much  impressed  with  the  wonderful  results  that  are  being 
accomplished  in  the  work  of  educating  the  deaf.  He  said  that 
Morganton,  already  renowned  for  the  high  type  of  her  citizen- 
ship, had  been  placed  on  the  map  by  the  location  of  two  of 
the  State's  splendid  institutions  here. 

With  warm  words  of  praise  for  the  fine  bearing  and  mili- 
tary precision  of  the  deaf  cadets  from  Morganton  in  the  pa- 
rade in  Charlotte  on  May  20th,  Mr.  Craig  said  that  he  had 
been  proud  on  that  day  to  tel!  the  wife  of  the  President  who 
the  boys  were. 

The  Governor  grew  eloquent  as  he  spoke  on  the  objects  of 
human  endeavor.  He  said  that  the  making  of  money  is  all 
right,  but  should  not  be  the  aim  of  our  efforts.  It  is  not  so 
much  the  attainment  of  power  that  counts  (and  money  repre- 
sents power)  as  what  we  are  going  to  do  with  that  power. 
Even  liberty  and  justice,  which  are  idealized,  are  only  means 
to  an  end  and  that  end  is  to  lift  up  every  human  being,  and 
to  give  all  equal  opportunities.  That  government  is  the  finest 
government,  that  State  the  best  State  which  comes  nearest 
to  accomplishing  this  end;  that  flag  means  the  most,  which 


202  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

waves  over  the  land  where  the  fortunate  and  unfortunate  are 
alike  given  the  opportunity  to  develop  the  highest  and  noblest 
instincts  with  which  the  Creator  has  endowed  them.  It  is 
North  Carolina's  privilege  and  opportunity  to  enable  all  her 
sons  and  daughters  to  have  an  equal  chance. 

The  Governor  stated  that  environment  and  training  play 
a  much  greater  part  in  the  individual  life  than  inheritance. 
The  difference  between  us  physically  is  not  so  great.  The 
State  reaches  its  highest  attainment  when  it  gives  to  all  alike 
the  opportunity  to  attain  to  their  highest  possibilities. 

He  said  that  when  in  one  of  the  classrooms  in  the  school 
he  saw,  just  before  his  address,  a  girl  reproduce  from  mem- 
ory on  the  blackboard  a  long  narrative  her  teacher  had  just 
finished  telling,  he  thought  that  she  had  gained  more  in  in- 
tellect than  she  had  lost  in  hearing.  The  loss  of  hearing  or 
of  any  of  the  senses  has  been  demonstrated  not  to  be  an  im- 
passable barrier  of  all  knowledge. 

There  is  the  same  difference  in  nature  between  neglect  and 
cultivation  as  there  is  between  the  untrained  and  trained  hu- 
man being.  The  State  and  society  are  responsible  for  ugliness 
of  character  which  grows  out  of  environment.  Such  a  school 
as  the  Deaf  School  is  absolutely  necessary,  considering  the 
obligation  of  the  State. 

The  Governor  took  occasion  to  say  that  the  tax  rate  in 
North  Carolina  is  the  lowest  except  one,  and  yet  we  have  one 
of  the  finest  school  systems  in  the  country. 

"The  wealth  of  the  world  is  ours;  to  transform  it  into 
moral  and  intellectual  womanhood  and  manhood  is  our  oppor- 
tunity. North  Carolina's  highest  obligation  is  to  protect  her 
helpless  ones  in  the  period  of  their  helplessness.  By  thus 
doing  we  shall  be  living  up  to  our  destiny  of  high  and  noble 
life." 

The  address  was  interpreted  to  the  deaf  pupils  present  by 
Superintendent  Goodwin. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  203 


ZEBULON  BAIRD  VANCE 

(Washington,  D.  C,  June  22,  1916) 

NOTE:  This  speech  was  made  by  Governor  Craig  in  behalf  of  the 
State  of  North  Carolina,  in  presenting  to  the  Nation,  for  a  place  in 
Statuary  Hall,  at  Washington,  a  statue  in  memory  of  her  most  dis- 
tinguished son.  The  statue  is  the  work  of  Gutzon  Borglum.  The 
movement  for  its  erection  and  presentation  was  inaugurated  by  Gov- 
ernor Craig  soon  after  he  became  Governor. 

Mr.  Chairman:  You  and  each  member  of  your  Commis- 
sion are  entitled  to  the  grateful  appreciation  of  the  State. 
You  were  appointed  by  the  Governor  and  Council  of  State 
under  a  resolution  of  the  General  Assembly  authorizing  the 
placing  of  the  statue  of  Zebulon  Baird  Vance  in  this  hall. 
You  have  done  your  work  without  compensation,  but  with  a 
zeal  which  no  money  could  buy.  You  secured  one  of  the  most 
eminent  artists  of  the  age,  and  have  delivered  a  magnificent 
statue  that  excites  the  enthusiastic  admiration  of  all  that 
have  seen  it.  It  speaks  the  force  and  the  character  of  our 
greatest  man. 

I  should  acknowledge,  too,  the  obligation  which  all  of  us 
feel  for  the  invaluable  assistance  of  Mr.  Silas  McBee  and 
Mr.  Peter  M.  Wilson,  generously  and  patriotically  given. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  the  State  of  North  Carolina  pre- 
sents through  you  to  the  United  States  the  statue  of  Zebulon 
Baird  Vance.  This  is  done  by  authority  of  a  resolution  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  passed  without  dis- 
sent. The  recognition  of  Vance  as  the  greatest  of  our  men, 
and  the  placing  of  his  statue  in  this  pantheon  of  the  Nation, 
is  but  the  execution  of  the  judgment  of  all  of  the  people  of 
North  Carolina.  His  personality,  his  character,  and  his  deeds 
confer  upon  him  the  right  to  stand  here,  a  peer  among  the 
foremost  of  the  Republic. 

Our  State  has  not  been  in  a  hurry  to  occupy  the  two  places 
assigned  to  her  in  this  hall.  In  preferring  Vance  as  the  first, 
she  has  been  mindful  of  her  obligation  to  consider  with  justice 
all  of  her  noble  sons.    And  she  has  realized,  too,  her  obliga- 


204  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

tion  to  do  justice  to  herself.  This  statue  shall  be  a  perpetual 
memorial  of  him  and  of  her.  The  State  must  be  judged  by 
the  best  that  she  can  produce.  He  is  our  most  precious  gift 
to  the  world.  Since  we  have  set  him  up  as  the  finest  con- 
ception and  expression  of  North  Carolina  life,  he  must  be  the 
standard  by  which  this  and  coming  generations  shall  measure 
the  significance  and  worth  of  the  State. 

He  was  a  son  of  North  Carolina,  bone  of  her  bone,  and 
flesh  of  her  flesh.  He  was  born  and  reared  among  the  moun- 
tains, and  was  of  Scotch-Irish  lineage,  but  his  sympathies 
were  not  limited  by  sectional  lines  nor  by  the  dogmas  of 
creeds.  Wherever  he  went,  among  all  classes  and  conditions 
of  men,  from  the  humblest  to  the  greatest,  he  was  primus 
inter  pares,  and  exemplified  the  universal  brotherhood.  In 
fashionable  salons,  among  scholars  and  statesmen,  he  was 
simple,  natural,  brilliant,  easily  the  center.  With  the  same 
unpretentious  manner,  on  terms  of  perfect  equality  he 
charmed  the  men  in  working  clothes,  with  rough  hands,  and 
was  loved  by  them  as  their  wiser  and  stronger  brother,  whose 
fidelity  could  never  be  doubted.  He  taught  dignity  to  no- 
bility. He  was  "a  legist  among  the  lawyers,  a  sidereal  among 
the  astronomers." 

Vance  was  trusted  and  honored  and  loved  by  the  people 
of  North  Carolina  as  no  other  man  has  been.  He  was  elected 
and  re-elected  to  the  places  of  highest  honor.  He  was  vested 
with  the  greatest  trust  and  called  in  every  crisis  to  do  the 
foremost  part.  From  the  time  that  he  was  thirty  years  old 
until  the  day  of  his  death  at  the  age  of  sixty -four  he  was  the 
unrivaled  leader.  Faith  in  his  loyalty  and  prowess  never 
faltered. 

Pre-eminent  merit  is  not  always  the  necessary  pre- 
requisite to  high  official  position,  but  for  thirty  years,  in 
times  of  war  and  revolution,  disaster  and  suffering,  Vance 
was  the  chosen  champion  of  the  people.  He  declared  their 
policies.  He  voiced  their  highest  aspirations.  He  was  always 
in  the  fiercest  of  the  conflict  to  meet  and  to  overcome  with 
blow  for  blow  the  mightiest  that  opposed.  He  was  the  voice 
of  the  State,  the  incarnation  of  her  passion,  her  hopes,  her 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  205 

determination,  and  her  purpose.  He  was  the  leader  to  call 
her  to  duty,  to  rescue  her  victoriously  from  ruin  and  strife 
into  the  way  of  peace  and  to  point  her  to  a  triumphant  des- 
tiny.   This  entitles  him  to  a  place  among  the  immortals. 

In  1860  Vance  attended  the  State  Convention  of  the  Whigs 
in  Salisbury.  This  was  his  first  appearance  before  the  whole 
State.  He  was  thirty  years  old,  a  Member  of  Congress  from 
the  mountain  district,  having  been  elected  for  the  first  time 
in  1858.  The  greatest  men  of  the  State  were  there,  among 
them  William  A.  Graham  and  George  E.  Badger,  statesmen 
of  national  prominence.  Reports  about  the  young  Congress- 
man from  the  Mountains  had  spread  down  into  the  State. 
When  he  spoke  to  the  convention  it  was  realized  that  the  man 
for  the  times  of  approaching  storm  had  appeared.  Men  heard 
him  with  wild  delight,  and  the  multitude  bore  him  on  their 
shoulders  through  the  streets  of  the  city.  Nothing  like  him 
had  been  seen.  He  was  young,  splendid  in  courage  and  in 
humor,  in  logic  and  eloquence.  They  acclaimed  him  then  the 
born  leader  of  men.  He  held  and  was  worthy  of  this  dis- 
tinction as  long  as  he  lived. 

In  1861  he  resigned  his  position  in  Congress  and  went 
into  the  Confederate  Army.  He  was  Captain  and  then  Colonel 
of  the  Twenty-Sixth  North  Carolina  Regiment,  a  regiment 
glorious  for  heroism  and  sacrifice.  The  men  emulated  the 
daring  and  the  courage  of  their  Commander.  In  1862,  with- 
out his  seeking,  he  was  elected  Governor.  No  man  was  ever 
called  to  a  task  more  difficult,  and  no  man  ever  performed 
his  task  with  more  consummate  ability  and  determination. 

North  Carolina  was  a  Union  State;  Vance  was  a  Union 
man.  He  and  she  were  steadfast  to  the  Union  until  the  awful 
choice  was  presented,  either  to.  join  the  armies  that  were  to 
crush  into  submission  the  seceding  States  in  the  exercise  of 
constitutional  right,  or  to  join  the  sister  States  of  the  South 
in  resisting  invasion.  When  North  Carolina  joined  the  Con- 
federacy, and  plighted  her  faith  to  the  cause,  Vance  was  de- 
termined that  his  State  should  be  true  to  the  covenant  even 
unto  destruction  and  death,  that  she  should  never  surrender 
until  the  last  soldier  had  laid  down  his  arms. 


206  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

In  1863,  after  the  Battle  of  Gettysburg,  when  the  cause 
of  the  Confederacy  was  desperate,  there  were  strong  men  in 
North  Carolina  who  demanded  that  the  Governor  should  make 
peace  separate  from  the  other  Southern  States.  They  made 
to  the  old  Union  men  an  appeal  of  plausibility  and  power. 
There  were  thousands  of  men  in  the  State  who  would  not  join 
the  Confederate  Army,  and  thousands  who  had  left  it. 

The  conscript  laws  must  be  enforced;  the  laws  and  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  State  must  be  maintained;  there  was  uni- 
versal uncertainty  and  confusion.  But  always  the  young 
Governor  was  firm  and  clear.  He  held  the  State  true  to  the 
Confederacy.  But  he  made  the  Confederate  Government  to 
know  that  the  civil  tribunals  of  this  State  were  supreme  for 
the  protection  of  the  rights  of  the  humblest  citizen  against 
military  power;  that  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  must  be  re- 
spected, and  that  it  should  never  be  suspended,  neither  for 
the  enforcement  of  the  conscript  laws  nor  for  any  other  cause ; 
that  if  under  this  writ  a  citizen  of  North  Carolina  should  be 
released  from  arrest  or  prison,  for  the  protection  of  such  a 
citizen  he  would,  if  necessary,  make  armed  resistance  to  the 
Confederate  Government  with  the  whole  military  power  of 
the  State. 

He  trampled  down  disloyalty  to  the  Confederacy  at  home. 
He  resisted  the  unlawful  exercise  of  military  power  from 
Richmond.  It  required  a  master  arm  to  guide  the  Ship  of 
State  in  this  tempest  between  Scylla  and  Charybdis. 

In  the  political  campaign  of  1864  his  enemies  threw  down 
to  him  the  gage  of  battle — peace  against  war.  The  strong 
Union  sentiment  of  the  State  that  prevailed  until  the  very 
breaking  out  of  the  war,  the  reverence  that  had  always  ex- 
isted for  the  Union,  made  the  situation  dangerous  and  fraught 
with  more  difficulty  in  North  Carolina  than  in  any  other 
Southern  State.  Vance  was  the  storm  center.  Destiny  shook 
her  doubtful  urn.  The  material  considerations  were  all  with 
his  opponents.  The  State  could  cut  loose  from  the  Con- 
federacy and  make  an  advantageous  peace  if  she  would. 
Vance  went  to  Virginia  to  speak  to  the  North  Carolina  soldiers 
of  Lee's  Army.    They  were  the  men  who  bore  the  hardships 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  207 

and  the  brunt  of  the  battle  The  supreme  issue  was  clear— 
the  separate  peace  or  continued  war.  Already  the  land  was 
robed  in  the  consuming  fire  of  war.  North  Carolina  was 
bleeding  to  death,  a  land  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief ; 
the  flower  of  her  sons  had  been  slain;  wives  and  children 
were  suffering  at  home,  sometimes  gathering  for  bread  the 
corn  that  was  spilled  out  of  the  wagons  of  invading  armies. 
The  men  had  heard  this  cry  from  home,  but  they  heard,  too, 
the  clarion  voice  of  the  Governor  that  called  to  battle  and  to 
sacrifice.  Wellington  said  that  the  presence  of  Napoleon  in 
battle  was  equivalent  to  50,000  men.  Lee  said  that  Vance's 
visit  and  speech  to  his  army  was  equivalent  to  a  re- 
enforcement  of  50,000  men. 

He  spoke  in  various  parts  of  the  State.  Not  only  the 
army  but  the  people  were  inspired  with  his  heroic  spirit. 
The  opposition,  born  of  selfishness,  wilted  before  his  burning 
eloquence.  The  men  who  had  left  the  camp  returned  to  the 
colors.  North  Carolina  sent  more  soldiers  to  the  armies  of 
the  Confederacy  than  any  other  State,  and  they  were  con- 
stant even  unto  the  end. 

In  1864,  on  the  issue  of  separate  peace  or  continued  war, 
and  on  his  administration  as  War  Governor,  the  soldiers 
voted  for  Vance.  The  people  voted  for  him.  He  was  tri- 
umphantly elected.  North  Carolina  kept  her  faith  and  en- 
dured the  sacrifice. 

When  Xerxes  was  invading  Greece,  he  sent  ambassadors 
to  Athens  to  portray  the  ruin  of  resistance  and  to  propose  a 
separate  peace  that  would  bring  to  the  Athenians  wealth  and 
make  their  city  the  ruling  city  of  Greece.  The  Spartans  had 
been  slain  at  Thermopylae,  the  Persian  armies — innumer- 
able— were  sweeping  down  from  the  north.  The  Persian 
fleets  covered  the  JEgean  Sea.  Some  favored  the  proposal  for 
the  ignominious  peace  in  the  Assembly  of  Athens.  Cyrsilus 
urged  that  the  terms  of  the  great  king  be  accepted.  Them- 
istocles  declared  that  it  were  better  for  Athens  to  be  de- 
stroyed while  fighting  for  the  honor  and  independence  of 
Greece  than  to  accept  all  of  the  gold  of  the  Orient.  The  men 
of  Athens  followed  Themistocles.    They  sent  away  the  Persian 


208  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

Ambassadors;  they  stoned  Cyrsilus  to  death.  And  in  the 
day  when  overwhelming  armies  were  marching  upon  our 
land,  when  the  State  was  drinking  the  cup  of  trembling  to 
the  very  dregs,  under  the  leadership  of  Vance  she  gave  to  us 
the  inheritance  that  shall  never  be  taken  from  us. 

While  mastering  the  difficulties  of  politics,  and  harmon- 
izing contending  factions,  he  did  not  forget  the  needs  of  the 
soldiers,  nor  the  people,  nor  the  destitute  families  of  the  de- 
serters. His  ships  defied  the  blockade  and  brought  into  our 
ports  from  England,  rifles,  munitions,  clothing,  shoes,  and 
blankets  for  the  Army,  necessities  and  comforts  for  all  of  the 
homes  of  the  rich  and  the  poor.  Our  soldiers  and  people  were 
better  provided  for  than  any  of  the  South.  He  is  known  to 
us  and  to  history  as  "The  Great  War  Governor." 

After  the  carnage  of  battle,  after  the  wreck  and  desola- 
tion of  war,  the  night  of  reconstruction  set  in.  North  Caro- 
lina's wounds  had  healed,  but  her  heart  was  bleeding.  All  of 
the  beasts  of  prey  came  forth  to  plunder  and  to  devour. 
Darkness  and  demoralization  prevailed.,  There  were  many 
who  thought  that  we  should  seek  admission  to  the  Union  in 
humility  and  contrition,  that  we  should  accept  the  new  order, 
that  we  should  join  the  dominant  party  with  its  dogmas  of 
social  and  political  equality,  that  we  should  submit  to  the 
disfranchisement  of  the  foremost  and  the  bravest,  and  not 
cry  aloud  against  the  control  of  elections  by  Federal  soldiers. 
Many  of  these  men  were  strong  men.  They  thought  that 
further  contention  with  a  victorious  party  was  hopeless,  and 
would  be  disastrous.  But  there  were  those  who  stood  for  the 
integrity  of  the  State  as  a  member  of  the  Union,  who  did 
not  surrender  their  ideals,  who  believed  in  the  supremacy  of 
our  race,  who  knew  that  the  policies  of  reconstruction  were 
impossible,  except  to  our  shame  and  ruin.  Vance  was  the 
leader,  the  voice  of  these,  the  inspiration  of  a  State  that  was 
crushed.  In  a  speech  in  Raleigh  at  the  beginning  of  this  era 
of  chaos,  referring  to  the  men  v/ho  were  advocating  the  pol- 
icies that  in  his  opinion  would  bring  ruin  to  the  State,  hu- 
miliation to  the  people,  and  threaten  the  overflow  of  our  civil- 
ization, after  pouring  out  upon  them  his  ridicule  and  invec- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  209 

tive,  as  with  the  blast  of  a  tempest  he  said:  "It  shall  be 
more  tolerable  for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  in  the  Day  of  Judg- 
ment than  for  them  in  North  Carolina."  He  made  good  the 
prophecy. 

After  the  surrender  and  the  dissolution  of  the  Confederacy 
he  was  loyal  to  the  Union.  He  had  left  it  with  sorrow.  He 
had  no  venom,  no  hatred,  in  his  heart,  he  was  charitable  to 
all  of  his  foes,  even  in  his  own  adversity,  but  he  made  re- 
construction odious  in  North  Carolina.  He  poured  out  the 
lava  of  his  wrath  upon  the  men  who  were  plundering  the 
State  and  trampling  down  her  pride  and  her  life. 

In  1870  the  State  elected  a  Democratic  General  Assembly 
over  military  power  and  enfranchised  slaves.  Vance  was 
elected  to  the  United  States  Senate.  He  was  denied  admis- 
sion on  account  of  disabilities — proscribed  because  of  his 
service  to  the  Confederacy.  The  devotion  and  trust  of 
the  people  in  him  was  stronger  than  ever.  The  storms  grow- 
ing out  of  the  war  had  not  abated.  The  violence  of  the  con- 
test for  the  rehabilitation  of  the  State  and  the  restoration  of 
her  government  to  virtue  and  intelligence  continued  with  de- 
termination. Vance  was  nominated  for  Governor  in  1876. 
Judge  Thomas  Settle,  a  man  of  character  and  eminent  ability, 
the  foremost  of  the  Republicans,  was  his  opponent.  Their 
joint  canvass  has  never  been  equaled  in  our  State,  nor  in  my 
opinion  surpassed  anywhere.  The  problems  resulting  from 
the  war,  the  political  status  of  the  State,  the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  people,  the  new  social  order,  the  administration 
of  our  government,  were  debated  with  consummate  power. 
These  men  standing  for  opposing  ideas  had  grappled  to  try 
conclusions.  The  time  was  fierce  and  the  people  were  intense. 
Multitudes  gathered  to  hear  them.  The  Republicans  hailed 
Settle  with  enthusiasm  as  a  splendid  and  undaunted  chief. 
Vance  was  acclaimed  as  a  deliverer.  He  was  escorted  by 
cavalcades  and  surrounded  by  cheering  thousands.  Vance  was 
elected.  The  supremacy  of  his  party,  the  ideals  and  the  pol- 
icies for  which  he  stood  were  firmly  established  in  North  Car- 
olina. Order  came  out  of  chaos,  the  hatreds  of  the  war  were 
forgotten,  the  fields  were  glad  with  harvests,  the  university 


210  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

was  opened,  schools  were  established,  the  State  rejoiced  in 
peace  and  in  her  growing  strength.  She  turned  to  the  work- 
ing out  of  her  destiny,  loyal  to  the  Union  of  the  fathers  and 
under  the  flag. 

In  1879  Vance  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  The  volcanic  force  and  fire  of  the  period  of  storm 
and  revolution  subsided  into  the  calm  and  clear  strength  and 
dignity  of  the  Senator.  At  no  period  in  our  history  have  there 
been  so  many  men  in  the  Senate  of  power  and  accomplished 
statesmanship.  Every  State  sent  her  strongest  men.  The 
floor  of  the  Senate  was  the  arena  of  intellectual  giants.  There 
were  Blaine,  of  Maine;  Edmunds  and  Morrill,  of  Vermont; 
Hoar,  of  Massachusetts;  Conkling,  of  New  York;  Bayard,  of 
Delaware;  Ransom,  of  North  Carolina;  Hampton,  of  South 
Carolina;  Benjamin  Hill,  of  Georgia;  Morgan,  of  Alabama; 
Lamar,  of  Mississippi ;  Blackburn,  of  Kentucky ;  Vest,  of  Mis- 
souri; Voorhees,  of  Indiana;  Thurman,  of  Ohio;  Ingalls,  of 
Kansas.  In  this  great  company,  Vance  was  recognized  as  the 
equal  of  any,  an  intellectual  gladiator  who  never  lowered  his 
arm,  a  statesman  who  dedicated  himself  to  labor  and  to  the 
service  of  the  State  and  of  the  whole  Nation.  He  mastered 
the  problems  of  his  time,  and  added  to  his  national  fame.  His 
speeches  gave  evidence,  not  only  of  his  known  ability,  but  of 
classic  culture.  In  debates  on  the  policies  and  fundamental 
questions  of  controlling  importance  he  was  generally  put  for- 
ward as  the  spokesman  of  his  party.  He  was  by  constitution, 
and  by  culture  a  democrat.  He  was  the  unrelenting  foe  of 
unjust  privilege  of  all  kinds,  the  apostle  of  equal  rights.  He 
delivered  the  faith  that  is  now  the  creed  of  Democracy.  For 
half  a  century  the  advocates  of  political  dogmas  have  conjured 
with  his  name,  or  tried  to  conjure  with  it. 

There  was  nothing  of  the  demagogue  about  Vance.  He 
was  nearly  always  on  the  popular  side,  but  often  by  his  own 
genius  he  made  his  side  popular.  He  was  one  of  those  men 
of  genius  of  universal  type.  He  was  one  of  the  people,  in  full 
accord  and  sympathy  with  them.  His  single  purpose  was  the 
common  good,  with  a  passion  for  justice  and  against  un- 
fairness and  oppression.     General  Theodore  F.  Davidson,  a 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  211 

kinsman  of  Vance,  who  knew  him  perhaps  more  intimately 
than  any  living  man,  says  of  him : 

"Another  characteristic,  particularly  in  public  matters, 
was  his  capacity  to  divine  the  right;  it  seemed  to  me  that 
with  less  effort  than  any  public  man  of  whom  I  have  any 
knowledge,  he  could  almost  instantly  comprehend  a  public 
question  with  its  results,  by  intuition.  This  quality  was  an 
endowment  of  nature,  developed  and  strengthened  by  the  cir- 
cumstances of  his  unusual  career. 

"Another  distinguishing  characteristic  which  made  him 
the  first  of  the  'leaders  of  men,"  was  his  absolute  devotion  to 
that  which  he  believed  to  be  the  best  for  his  country  and  his 
people.  I  do  not  believe  there  ever  was  a  moment  in  his  life 
when  he  was  not  perfectly  willing  to  offer  himself  and  all  he 
had  for  the  benefit  of  his  countrymen  without  the  slightest 
consideration  whether  it  brought  to  him  compensation  in  any 
form." 

If  you  strike  the  chord  of  a  musical  instrument  in  the 
midst  of  other  musical  instruments,  all  of  the  chords  that 
are  in  perfect  harmony  will  vibrate  with  the  same  rhythm. 
Vance  was  in  harmony  with  the  people.  The  same  causes 
that  stirred  them  stirred  him.  He  uttered  the  dominant  note. 
His  vision  was  farther  and  clearer.  His  conception  stronger. 
He  expressed  what  they  vaguely  felt,  and  what  they  had  been 
longing  to  hear,  and  he  gave  tone  and  unity  to  their  thought, 
their  aspirations,  and  their  life. 

He  was  sympathetic  and  tender  as  a  child.  On  the  13th 
of  May,  1865,  he  was  arrested  without  notice  by  Federal  sol- 
diers in  Statesville.  As  he  went  along  the  road  to  his  un- 
known destiny,  a  prisoner  surrounded  by  soldiers,  through  a 
State  where  in  other  days  every  journey  had  been  a  triumphal 
procession,  Mr.  Samuel  Wittowsky,  who  was  with  him,  says 
that  for  a  moment  he  was  overcome  and  shed  tears  while  they 
drove  along  in  silence.  "This  will  not  do,"  said  Vance;  "I 
must  not  allow  my  feelings  to  unman  me,  but  it  is  so  hard  to 
bear.  I  am  not  so  much  concerned  about  what  may  be  in 
store  for  me,  but  my  poor  wife  and  little  children;  they  have 
not  a  cent  of  money  to  live  on."    When  Danton,  the  giant  of 


212  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

the  French  Revolution,  who  had  defied  imperial  armies,  who 
had  hurled  at  the  feet  of  the  coalesced  kings  of  Europe  as 
gage  of  battle,  the  head  of  a  king ;  who  had  organized  armies 
and  had  saved  France,  when  he  stood  upon  the  platform  of 
the  guillotine,  surrounded  by  soldiers  and  the  populace  howl- 
ing for  his  blood,  he,  too,  broke  down  in  tears,  saying :  "I  will 
never  see  my  poor  wife  any  more,  then."  He,  too,  nerved 
himself  with  the  expression:     "Danton,  no  weakness." 

Vance  never  quailed  nor  bowed  the  knee  to  power.  When 
he  was  down,  when  his  enemies  were  in  control  and  his  future 
seemed  darkest  he  wrote  the  following  letter: 

"To  the  editor  of  The  New  York  World :  I  see  by  the  pub- 
lic prints  that  General  Kilpatrick  has  decorated  me  with  his 
disapprobation  before  the  people  of  Pennsylvania.  He  informs 
them,  substantially,  that  he  tamed  me  by  capturing  me  and 
riding  me  200  miles  on  a  bareback  mule.  I  will  do  him  the 
justice  to  say  that  he  knew  that  was  a  lie  when  he  uttered  it. 

"I  surrendered  to  General  Schofield  at  Greensboro,  N.  C,  on 
the  2nd  day  of  May,  1865,  who  told  me  to  go  to  my  home  and 
remain  there,  saying  that  if  he  got  any  orders  to  arrest  me 
he  would  send  there  for  me.  Accordingly  I  went  home,  and 
there  remained  until  I  was  arrested  on  the  13th  of  May  by  a 
detachment  of  300  Cavalry,  under  Major  Porter,  of  Harris- 
burg,  from  whom  I  received  nothing  but  kindness  and  cour- 
tesy.   I  came  in  a  buggy  to  Salisbury,  where  we  took  the  cars. 

"I  saw  no  mule  on  the  trip,  yet  I  thought  I  saw  an  ass  at 
the  General's  Headquarters;  this  impression  has  since  been 
confirmed.  Respectfully  yours, 

"Z.  E.  VANCE." 

His  humor  was  inimitable ;  it  was  spontaneous.  Audiences 
were  convulsed  with  laughter  by  his  witticisms  and  his 
stories;  but  his  humor  was  always  an  incident.  It  always 
illustrated.  It  was  always  used  for  a  purpose.  It  was  over- 
whelming and  brought  his  antagonist  irresistably  into  ridicule. 
When  the  southern  leaders  in  Congress  were  accused  of  dis- 
loyalty, he  said: 

"What  motive  have  we  to  injure  this  country?  Having 
surrendered  the  doctrine  of  secession  and  abandoned  any  in- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  213 

tention  whatsoever  to  divide  this  Union,  how  could  we  expect 
that  the  democracy  to  which  we  belong  could  obtain  and  hold 
the  control  of  the  Government  except  by  showing  the  people 
by  our  acts  that  we  are  patriotically  desirous  of  promoting  its 
welfare  and  its  glory.  But  you  say  you  distrust  these  ex- 
pressions. My  friends,  in  your  hearts  you  do  not.  On  the 
contrary,  a  man  who  has  offered  his  blood  once  for  his  plighted 
faith  you  believe  when  he  plights  his  faith  again.  There  is 
not  a  southern  rebel,  no  matter  how  bitter  and  rampant  he 
may  have  been,  that  you  have  not  received  with  arms  wide- 
spread and  rewarded  with  offices  of  honor  and  trust  who  came 
to  you  with  craven  repentance  on  his  tongue,  ready  to  vote 
the  Republican  ticket  and  eating  dirt  with  the  same  gluttonous 
appetite  with  which  he  once  ate  fire.  You  profess  to  believe 
him,  but  you  despise  him  in  your  hearts.  You  are  not  alarmed 
to  receive  him  and  you  cast  no  suspicion  upon  his  professions 
of  sincerity,  though,  as  has  more  than  once  happened,  he  asks 
you  to  believe  he  tells  the  truth  today  because  he  told  a  lie 
yesterday." 

His  personal  appearance  was  unique.  He  did  not  look  like 
other  men.  No  man  who  saw  him  ever  forgot  him.  His  mag- 
netism charmed  with  a  peculiar  and  indescribable  power. 
When  you  looked  upon  him,  you  knew  that  you  beheld  the 
lion-hearted  leader  of  men. 

When  known  and  understood,  men  of  all  parties  admired 
and  honored  him  for  his  convictions,  his  courage,  his  kindness 
of  heart,  his  abiding  loyalty  and  devotion  to  the  whole  country. 

When  he  died,  the  State  was  awed  into  a  solemnity  that 
we  had  not  known.  It  was  realized  that  the  foremost  had 
fallen.  The  train  bearing  him  for  the  last  time  to  the  bosom 
of  the  mountains  that  bore  him  and  nurtured  him  passed 
through  the  State  while  the  assembled  people  with  uncovered 
heads  bowed  and  wept.  Meetings  were  held  in  almost  every 
county  in  expression  of  universal  sorrow.  The  State  was  his 
funeral  cortege. 

"No  hollow  formalist  was  he,  deceptive  and  self-deceptive, 
ghastly  to  the  natural  sense,  but  a  very  man,  fiery,  real,  from 
the  great  fire  bosom  of  nature  herself." 


214  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  . 

OPENING  OF  THE  GREAT  STATE  FAIR 

(October  17th,  1916) 

Industry  is  victorious.  She  comes  to  celebrate  her  triumph 
and  to  show  her  accomplishments.  From  the  hills  she  has 
reaped  the  yellow  harvest,  and  from  the  wide  fields  she  has 
gathered  the  silken  fiber,  more  valuable  than  the  Golden 
Fleece  for  which  the  Argonauts  sailed.  On  her  pastures  are 
the  finest  herds  of  cattle.  Her  fruits  are  wrapped  in  the 
crimson  and  gold  of  autumn,  flavored  with  the  royal  aroma 
of  the  flowers.  All  the  staples  of  food  and  raiment  and 
luxury  have  been  produced  in  abundance. 

In  manufacture  and  commerce,  intelligent  industry  has 
been  rewarded  with  equal  bounty.  Our  factories  send  furni- 
ture to  the  farthest  States  of  the  Union,  and  our  mills  send 
fabrics  to  the  farthest  countries  of  the  world. 

The  towns  and  cities  are  pulsing  with  energy,  and  grow- 
ing in  trade  and  commercial  importance. 

From  the  year  1901  until  now  no  country  ever  went  for- 
ward in  economical  development  more  than  the  State  of  North 
Carolina,  nor  did  any  ever  manifest  more  progress  in  moral 
and  intellectual  development. 

It  may  encourage  us  to  renewed  activity  and  strength  to 
remember  what  our  people  have  done  within  the  last  sixteen 
years.    The  facts  and  the  figures  eloquently  tell  the  story. 

Mr.  Bion  Butler  states  that  in  the  census  period  of  1900- 
1910  North  Carolina  doubled  the  value  of  her  farm  products, 
and  that  in  the  first  five  years  of  the  present  census  period, 
she  has  almost  doubled  again ;  that  within  the  ten  years  from 
1900-1910  the  State  made  the  phenomenal  record  of  advanc- 
ing as  much  in  agriculture  as  she  did  in  the  three  hundred 
years  of  her  history  from  the  planting  of  Raleigh's  first  colony 
to  the  beginning  of  this  century ;  and  that  within  the  last  six 
years  she  has  made  an  equal  advance.  "This,"  concludes  Mr. 
Butler,  "is  without  pg-rallel  in  history."  If  this  magnificent 
progress  be  continued  for  another  ten  years,  North  Carolina 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  215 

will  leave  behind  her  rival  sister  States,  and  forge  to  the 
front  among  the  very  foremost  of  the  Union.  I  never  travel 
with  a  stranger  through  our  territory  without  hearing  his 
enthusiastic  comment  on  the  wonderful  improvement  and  the 
spirit  of  enterprise  manifest  along  all  railroads  and  highways. 

In  the  year  1900,  the  disheartened  farmer  with  his  ox  or 
bony  horse  scratched  the  sterile,  stingy  soil  and  it  yielded  on 
an  average  of  thirteen  bushels  of  nubbins  to  the  acre ;  now  he 
produces  on  an  average  of  twenty-two  bushels  of  corn  to  the 
acre.  Then  he  got  on  an  average  from  an  acre  six  and  seven- 
tenths  bushels  of  wheat;  now  he  reaps  eleven  bushels.  Then 
he  got  twelve  bushels  of  oats ;  now  he  gets  twenty-three 
bushels.  Then  he  produced  on  an  average  seven  bushels  of 
rye  to  the  acre,  and  it  was  destined  for  twenty-one  gallons  of 
liquor,  three  gallons  to  the  bushel,  with  all  the  disorder  and 
misery  that  liquor  can  bring  and  more,  for  red  pepper  and 
sulphuric  acid  were  thrown  in  for  good  measure ;  now  he  pro- 
duces eleven  and  five-tenths  bushels  of  rye  to  the  acre,  all  of 
which  is  food  for  man  and  beast. 

In  that  time  after  the  toil  of  the  long  hot  days  of  summer, 
he  gathered  in  hopeless  poverty  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven 
pounds  of  cotton  from  the  average  acre,  worth  twelve  or  fif- 
teen dollars;  now  he  gathers  two  hundred  and  sixty  pounds 
worth  fifty  dollars.  The  cotton  seed  that  he  now  produces  to 
the  acre  is  worth  more  than  was  the  cotton  fiber  in  the  latter 
years  of  the  last  century. 

This  year  the  State  will  produce  65,000,000  bushels  of 
corn;  10,000,000  bushels  of  wheat;  12,000,000  bushels  of  po- 
tatoes; 197,000,000  pounds  of  tobacco;  650,000  tons  of  hay; 
and  650,000  bales  of  cotton,  every  bale  of  which  together  with 
the  seed  is  worth  more  than  a  hundred  dollars.  The  cotton 
crop  of  North  Carolina  alone  this  year  is  worth  $70,000,000, 
and  all  of  the  crops  of  the  State  combined  have  a  value  of 
more  than  two  hundred  million  dollars.  This  does  not  take 
into  consideration  the  cattle  which  are  shipped  out  of  the 
State,  and  which  constitute  now  a  rapidly  growing  industry. 

North  Carolina  ranks  now,  and  has  ranked  for  six  years, 


216  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

as  the  first  State  of  the  Union  in  the  production  of  cotton  per 
acre. 

The  soil  has  been  strengthened.  Man  can  sow  in  faith  to 
reap  the  harvest  of  plenty.  Agriculture  has  evolved  from 
penury  to  profit. 

In  recounting  this  unrivaled  development  it  would  not  be 
just  to  fail  to  acknowledge  the  invaluable  work  done  by  the 
College  of  Agriculture  &  Mechanic  Arts,  and  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  with  the  present  earnest  and  able  Com- 
missioner of  Agriculture  at  its  head.  The  College  has  sent  its 
alumni  to  all  sections  of  the  State  equipped  for  the  practical 
and  scientific  cultivation  of  the  fields  and  for  the  higher  de- 
velopment of  the  profession  of  agriculture. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  has  stimulated  farming  to 
increasing  activity.  It  has  protected  the  farmers  from  impo- 
sition, it  has  ascertained  and  encouraged  the  most  profitable 
crops  and  methods  by  intelligent  experiment  and  demonstra- 
tion. 

In  manufacturing,  our  development  has  kept  pace  with  the 
progress  in  agriculture.  North  Carolina  is  now  one  of  the 
leading  manufacturing  States  of  the  South.  In  1900  our  cot- 
ton mills  were  capitalized  at  $22,000,000;  now  we  have  three 
hundred  and  eighteen  cotton  mills  with  a  total  capital  of 
about  $58,000,000.  These  mills  are  operating  4,000,000 
spindles  with  67,000  looms,  requiring  178,000  horsepower. 
We  manufacture  all  of  the  cotton  that  we  produce  and  some- 
times more.  The  value  of  the  yearly  output  of  these  mills  is 
near  $90,000,000.  They  give  employment  to  more  than  51,000 
people,  whose  wages  amount  to  $17,000,000. 

There  are  in  the  State  one  hundred  and  two  furniture  fac- 
tories, with  a  capital  of  more  than  $8,000,000,  giving  employ- 
ment to  6,000  people,  whose  wages  amount  to  a  half  million 
of  dollars,  with  an  output  worth  more  than  $10,000,000. 

All  over  the  State,  mechanical  industries  are  doing  a 
thriving  business,  and  making  for  home  and  for  export  all 
kinds  of  manufactured  articles.  From  one  end  of  the  State 
to  the  other  are  stretched  the  electric  cables  through  which 
stream  the  harnessed  powers  of  the  French  Broad,  the  Ca- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  217 

tawba,  the  Yadkin,  the  Pee  Dee,  the  Cape  Fear,  and  the  Roa- 
noke, delivering  exhaustless  energy  to  the  centers  of  industry, 
lighting  cities  and  towns  and  setting  in  motion  millions  of 
wheels  and  spindles. 

In  the  last  sixteen  years  there  have  been  built  in  North 
Carolina  1,500  miles  of  railroad,  and  15,000  miles  of  improved 
highways.  The  facilities  of  transportation  have  been  carried 
to  the  remote  sections.  Our  cities  and  towns  have  been  in  a 
large  measure  relieved  from  the  unjust  discrimination  in 
transportation  that  has  heretofore  prevailed  against  them. 
By  this  freight  rate  adjustment  the  saving  to  North  Caro- 
linians has  amounted  to  millions  of  dollars.  The  effect  is 
manifest  in  the  increasing  prosperity  of  our  cities  and  towns. 
The  unjust  discrimination  has  to  a  large  extent  been  cor- 
rected. Our  wholesale  merchants  are  now  competing  with 
the  merchants  of  other  States. 

In  1900  we  had  no  highways.  The  roads  were  avenues  of 
mud  and  hills.  During  the  last  four  years  we  have  built  ten 
thousand  miles  of  improved  highways — twice  as  much  as  in 
all  the  preceding  history  of  the  State.  In  addition  to  this,  we 
have  graded  about  all  of  the  principal  roads  of  the  State. 
From  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  Great  Smoky  Mountains,  and 
across  the  State  from  South  Carolina  to  Virginia,  there  are 
now  the  finest  roads  for  citizens  and  for  tourists. 

During  the  last  four  years,  North  Carolina  has  spent  more 
than  fifteen  millions  of  dollars  on  roads.  This  is  not  an  ex- 
pense. It  is  an  investment  that  pays  a  dividend  of  one 
hundred  per  cent  every  year.  The  last  Legislature  estab- 
lished a  Highway  Commission  to  provide  for  a  more  efficient 
and  a  more  systematic  expenditure  of  the  people's  money. 

Nothing  has  contributed  more  to  the  prosperity  and  the 
happiness  and  social  development  of  our  country  than  these 
improved  roads.  The  movement  has  gained  a  momentum  that 
will  result  in  the  establishment  of  the  best  highways  to  every 
community.  No  community  can  be  without  good  roads,  unless 
it  be  satisfied  to  lag  behind  in  all  the  improvements  of  modern 
life  in  this  day  of  enlightenment  and  progress.  The  old 
country  road  of  rocks  and  mud  and  steep  hills  is  a  thing  of 


218  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

the  past.  The  highway  immeasurably  finer  than  the  "King's 
Highway"  of  old,  has  been  established,  with  the  swift  and 
powerful  vehicles  of  modern  transportation. 

There  pass  in  review  no  soldiers  today.  They  are  on  the 
southern  border,  for  the  protection  of  the  people  and  the 
territory  of  this  Republic.  But  in  imagination  we  can  pass 
in  review  the  grand  army  of  North  Carolina  workers;  3,000 
corn  club  boys  marching  in  the  van;  250,000  cornfield  men 
with  brown  faces  and  brave  hearts,  the  producers  of  bread; 
60,000  textile  workers,  spinners  and  weavers,  with  lint  on 
their  garments  and  hair;  50,000  men  in  overalls  whose  levers 
turn  the  driving  wheels  of  mills  and  locomotives ;  250,000  wo- 
men, the  mothers  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Carolina,  the 
priestesses  who  preside  with  vestal  devotion  over  the  sanc- 
tuary of  home.  These  with  the  captains  of  industry  and  all 
men  and  women  who  work,  constitute  the  State,  and  are  the 
builders  of  the  State.  These  plowers,  spinners,  weavers, 
builders,  unstained  by  the  heart's  blood  of  men,  ennobled  by 
fruitful  labor,  growing  ever  nobler,  whereby  man  has  risen 
from  the  low  places  of  earth.  Hail  them  with  triumphant 
acclaim ;  invest  them  with  the  cestus  of  victory,  for  they  have 
overcome!  They  belong  to  the  "Grand  Host;  immeasurable; 
marching  ever  forward  since  the  Beginning  of  the  World. 
The  enormous,  all-conquering,  flame-crowned  Host,  noble 
every  soldier  in  it;  sacred  and  alone  noble.  Let  him  who  is 
not  of  it  hide  himself;  let  him  tremble  for  himself.  Stars  at 
every  button  cannot  make  him  noble;  nor  any  other  con- 
trivance, but  manfully  enlisting  in  it,  valiantly  taking  place 
and  step  in  it." 

This  wonderful  advancement  of  the  State  is  manifest  in 
the  financial  condition  of  the  people.  In  1899  there  were 
ninety-five  Banks,  both  State  and  National,  in  the  State. 
Today  there  are  four  hundred  and  twenty-six  State  Banks, 
and  eighty-one  National  Banks.  In  1899  there  were  $14,836,- 
000  on  deposit.  Today  the  people  have  on  deposit  in  their 
banks  $107,424,000.  The  farmers,  the  manufacturers,  the 
merchants,  have  made  money  for  the  extension  and  the  im- 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  219 

provement  of  their  industries,  and  besides  have  deposited 
more  than  a  hundred  million  dollars  in  the  banks. 

But  economic  development  is  not  the  object  of  man's 
highest  endeavor.  It  is  not  the  ultimate  aim  of  civilization. 
All  wealth  and  all  laws  and  all  government  and  all  institu- 
tions must  have  for  their  final  aim  and  result  the  guarantee 
of  an  opportunity  for  every  citizen  to  attain  his  highest  de- 
velopment. 

North  Carolina's  moral  and  intellectual  growth  has  kept 
pace  with  her  material  growth. 

We  have  not  forgotten  that  the  child  is  the  hope  of  the 
State.  There  are  now  in  attendance  upon  the  public  schools 
more  than  twice  as  many  children  as  in  the  year  1900,  and 
they  are  going  to  school  nearly  twice  as  many  days  in  the 
year.  The  houses  in  which  they  are  taught  cost  nearly  nine 
times  as  much,  and  their  teachers  are  paid  two  and  a  half 
times  as  much.  Then  the  average  value  of  a  school  house 
was  $158.00 ;  now  it  is  $1,162.74.  Then  there  were  1,190  log 
school  houses;  now  there  are  but  sixty-five.  Soon  these  will 
give  place  to  handsome  structures  similar  to  those  that  are 
the  ornament  and  the  pride  of  nearly  every  School  District 
in  the  State.  This  has  cost  money,  but  money  that  the  pa- 
triotic citizens  of  North  Carolina  have  willingly  paid. 

It  will  not  be  long  until  illiteracy  in  North  Carolina  will 
disappear;  and  in  the  Moonlight  Schools  the  people  who  grew 
up  in  a  less  fortunate  era  are  receiving  the  opportunities 
which  they  should  have  enjoyed  in  their  youth.  All  of  our 
institutions  of  learning  are  thronged  with  students  eager  for 
that  strength  and  equipment  in  a  State  where  merit  is  re- 
warded, and  where  the  honest  hope  of  all  men  is  not  denied. 

We  have  established  a  Department  of  Health  in  recent 
years  that  has  brought  untold  blessings  to  our  people.  This 
department  is  stamping  out  the  preventable  diseases.  It  is 
protecting  the  homes  of  the  high  and  of  the  lowly  against 
the  invasion  of  disease  and  death.  Pestilence  no  longer  stalks 
abroad  unchallenged  in  the  noon  day.  Men  and  women  and 
children  suffer  and  die  from  causes  that  can  be  removed. 
They  are  deaf  and  dumb  and  feebleminded,  and  are  stricken 


220  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

with  blindness  and  insanity,  condemned  to  lives  of  darkness 
and  hopelessness  not  by  the  inscrutable  decree  of  Providence, 
but  by  the  failure  of  society  to  protect  them  against  the 
enemy  that  is  more  cruel  than  death.  North  Carolina  is  dis- 
charging this  sacred  obligation.  It  costs  money  that  a  noble 
State  will  gladly  pay.  But  withal  our  government  is  the 
cheapest,  the  most  economical,  in  all  the  civilized  world,  and 
taxes  are  lower  per  capita  than  in  any  other  State  but  one. 
We  should  not  boast  of  this.  The  courage  and  energy  of  a 
growing  race  must  spring  from  robust  health. 

And  North  Carolina  is  now  one  of  the  healthiest  States  in 
the  Union.  Her  death  rate  is  among  the  lowest  of  all  the 
States  of  the  Union.  Her  birth  rate  is  the  highest  of  any 
State  in  the  Union.  We  produce  not  only  more  corn  per  acre 
than  any  of  the  Commonwealths,  but  we  produce  more  babies 
per  capita  than  any.  This  infant  industry  cannot  be  dis- 
couraged by  tariffs  or  free  trade,  nor  by  wars  nor  rumors  of 
wars. 

The  prosperity  and  the  development  which  we  have  en- 
joyed in  North  Carolina  demonstrates  that  the  people  have 
full  confidence  and  the  security  of  good  government.  From 
the  opening  years  of  this  century  until  now  no  scandal  has 
been  suggested.  The  public  officials  have  honestly  discharged 
their  duties  and  the  Legislatures  have  enacted  laws  for  the 
welfare  and  encouragement  of  the  people  of  the  State.  No 
country  can  prosper  without  good  government.  The  territory 
of  Turkey  is  as  fertile  as  ours.  The  people  of  that  country 
would  develop  an  enlightened  and  advancing  civilization  but 
for  the  discouragement  that  comes  from  tyranny  and  corrupt 
government. 

Every  dollar  invested  in  railroads,  every  dollar  invested  in 
factories,  and  all  of  the  energy  expended  upon  the  farms  of 
this  State  are  protected  by  just  laws  honestly  and  economic- 
ally administered. 

The  country  is  enjoying  prosperity  that  never  before  has 
been  ours.  By  a  currency  system,  elastic,  adjustable  to  the 
demands  of  commerce,  panics  for  scarcity  of  money  have 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  221 

been  made  impossible,  and  by  an  administration  determined 
to  protect  the  producers,  the  speculators  that  have  heretofore 
preyed  upon  them  have  been  driven  away.  Wall  Street  can 
no  longer  paralyze  the  enterprise  of  the  Nation.  It  can  no 
longer  strangle  commerce  by  contracting  the  currency  and 
depreciating  values.  If  President  Wilson  was  responsible  for 
the  temporary  low  price  of  cotton  in  1914,  "a  fortiori,"  he  is 
responsible  for  the  lasting  high  price  of  cotton  in  1916,  and 
unprecedented  prosperity.  With  the  unlimited  resources  of 
this  country  as  yet  in  the  beginning  of  development,  with  just 
laws,  the  future  unfolds  in  grander  revelation  to  the  genius 
of  the  American  people. 


222  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 


OUR  OPPORTUNITY 

Extract  From  A  Speech  Delivered  By  The  Governor  To  The 

Southern   Commercial  Congress,   At  Norfolk, 

Virginia,  December,  1916. 

The  South  is  endeared  to  us  by  the  heroism  and  sacrifice 
of  our  fathers  and  kindred.  Her  soil  is  consecrated  by  the 
lives  and  by  the  blood  of  the  bravest,  and  the  roots  of  our 
tradition  grow  deep,  hallowed  by  the  memories  of  the  past. 

We  love  the  Union;  we  rejoice  that  we  were  born  beneath 
the  ample  folds  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  We  will  defend  it 
forever.  It  stands  for  Law  and  Freedom  and  Justice  for  all 
mankind.  More  than  any  other  flag,  we  hope  and  believe  it 
stands  for  the  Altruistic. 

The  patriotism  of  sectionalism  is  past — no  longer  deter- 
mined by  geographical  lines.  All  civilized  nations  are  inter- 
dependent— bound  together — correlated  in  one  Federation  of 
the  World.  Humanity  has  no  frontiers.  The  locomotive,  the 
gasoline  motor,  the  electric  current,  the  morning  newspaper, 
are  the  Evangels  of  our  time — economically — spiritually.  The 
race  realizes  its  kinship,  and  the  world  throbs  with  the  pulsa- 
tion of  the  same  thought,  the  same  aspirations.  The  day  of 
the  hostile  tribe  and  the  hostile  state  has  passed. 

Dumas  tells  of  the  political  prisoner,  the  Count  of  Monte 
Cristo,  confined  in  a  stone  fortress  for  fourteen  years  on  the 
rocky  coast  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  A  fellow  prisoner  occupied 
a  communicating  dungeon.  At  the  end  of  fourteen  years  this 
prison  mate  died.  They  sewed  the  body  in  a  coarse  winding 
sheet,  and  laid  it  upon  the  stone  couch.  As  the  Count  of 
Monte  Cristo,  in  the  gloom  of  his  dungeon,  looked  upon  the 
dead  form,  and  realized  that  the  only  voice  that  had  spoken 
to  him  in  friendship  and  sympathy  for  fourteen  years  was 
forever  hushed  in  death,  he  was  almost  a  maniac.  But  the 
lightning  flash  of  a  thought !  He  knew  that  when  the  darkness 
came,  the  jailors  would  bury  the  dead  body  by  casting  it  over 
the  rampart  of  the  castle  into  the  sea.     He  unravelled  the 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  223 

stitches  of  the  winding  sheet.  He  placed  the  dead  body  upon 
his  own  couch,  and  sewed  himself  in  the  hempen  shroud. 
Sure  enough,  when  it  was  dark  he  heard  the  footsteps  of  the 
jailors ;  the  door  to  his  dungeon  swung  upon  its  rusty  hinges. 
He  feared  that  they  would  hear  the  drum  beat  of  his  heart. 
The  rude  hands  of  the  jailors  took,  as  they  thought,  the  dead 
form  along  the  damp  corridors  of  the  fortress  to  the  open 
deck.  They  swung  the  body  to  and  fro — and  then,  with  a 
mighty  heave,  they  cast  it  over  the  rampart  into  the  sea.  As 
the  Count  of  Monte  Cristo  touched  the  water,  with  his  knife 
he  ripped  open  his  shroud.  He  swam  to  the  nearest  rock  that 
projected  out  of  the  water.  He  clambered  up.  For  the  first 
time  in  fourteen  years  he  felt  upon  his  pallid  brow  the  breath 
of  Heaven's  air.  He  looked  upon  the  broad  expanse  of  sea 
and  sky.  Naked,  like  a  gladiator  in  the  circus;  "for  Circus, 
he  had  the  vast  horizon;  instead  of  the  Vestals,  the  Stars; 
instead  of  Caesar,  the  All  Powerful!"  By  the  winds  of  the 
illimitable  oceans,  by  the  radiance  of  the  stars,  God  sent  a 
message  to  him,  and  he  shouted :  "The  World  is  mine !"  Yes, 
the  lone  man  upon  the  rock,  the  seething  serf  lashing  his  feet, 
his  face  covered  with  its  foam — free!  In  the  glory  of  his 
manhood  he  could  say,  "The  World  is  mine!" 

The  World  is  Ours ! — not  for  conquest — not  for  exploita- 
tion— not  for  oppression;  but  for  co-operation  and  mutual 
opportunity,  to  the  realization,  by  the  forces  and  ideals  of  our 
enlightened  age,  of  the  finer  civilization,  the  finer  individual 
life.  The  great  day  of  Crisis  and  Awakening  calls  for  the 
brave,  clear  and  steadfast  in  the  Faith  of  Righteousness, 
"With  power  on  this  dark  land  to  lighten  it,  and  power  on 
this  dead  world  to  make  it  live." 


224  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 


MOUNT  MITCHELL 

Extracts  From  A  Pamphlet  Published  By  The  Governor  In 
1915,  Entitled  "Mitchell's  Peak  And  Dr.  Mitchell." 

Mitchell's  Peak  is  the  highest  mountain  in  North  America 
east  of  the  Rockies.  Its  altitude  is  6,711  feet.  It  is  one  of 
the  peaks  of  the  Black  Mountains,  the  loftiest  range  of  the 
Appalachian  System.  The  Peak  is  situated  in  Western  North 
Carolina  in  the  County  of  Yancey,  twenty  miles  from  the 
Town  of  Black  Mountain,  on  the  Southern  Railway,  and  ten 
or  fifteen  miles  from  Mount  Mitchell  Station  on  the  Carolina, 
Clinchfield  &  Ohio  Railway. 


The  Black  Mountains  are  covered  with  luxurious  growth 
of  balsam  or  spruce.  From  the  dark,  rich  green  of  this  forest, 
the  mountains  derive  their  name.  Their  dark,  somber  color 
is  in  distinct  contrast  to  the  blue  of  other  neighboring 
mountain  ranges  covered  with  forests  of  lighter  green. 

This  balsam  or  spruce  timber  is  now  very  valuable  for 
lumber  and  wood  pulp.  It  has  been  purchased  by  companies 
who  are  rapidly  removing  it  in  immense  quantities,  and  de- 
nuding the  slopes  of  the  mountain  of  its  magnificent  virgin 
growth.  The  ground  is  left  covered  with  the  resinous  leaves 
and  laps  of  the  trees,  which  when  dry  are  most  inflammable. 
It  seems  impossible  to  prevent  fires.  On  the  areas  which 
have  been  cut  over,  conflagrations  sweep  with  terrific  fury, 
burning  everything.  The  rich  and  gorgeous  slopes  of  the 
vast  mountains  are  left  a  desert  of  blackened  ruin. 

In  the  summer  of  1914  the  lumbermen  who  had  purchased 
the  timber  on  Mitchell  were  proceeding  to  remove  it.  Large 
areas  on  the  sides  of  the  mountain  had  been  destroyed  by  axe 
and  fire.  The  summit  and  the  whole  mountain  were  threat- 
ened. I  had  a  conference  with  Messrs.  Pearley  and  Crockett, 
who  owned  and  were  cutting  this  timber.  At  my  solicitation 
they  generously  agreed  to  suspend  operations  on  and  around 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  225 

the  summit  of  the  mountain  until  the  General  Assembly- 
should  meet.  I  stated  to  them  that  I  would  urge  the  General 
Asssembly  to  protect  this  mountain  and  provide  a  reasonable 
compensation  to  them  for  the  timber.  But  for  this  arrange- 
ment Mitchell's  Peak  would  have  been  devastated,  and  its 
beauty  destroyed.  The  General  Assembly  did  make  an  appro- 
priation of  $20,000  to  be  used  in  the  purchase  of  land  for  a 
park  on  the  mountain,  including  the  summit.  By  this  enact- 
ment, the  most  noted  mountain  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
United  States  was  preserved  in  its  original  beauty  and 
grandeur  for  ourselves  and  our  posterity. 

One  of  the  considerations  moving  the  General  Assembly 
to  the  establishment  of  the  park  was  to  relieve  this  famous 
mountain  from  private  control,  that  the  people  of  North  Car- 
olina and  tourists  from  all  parts  of  the  world  might  have  the 
privilege  of  free  access. 

The  bill  making  the  appropriation  for  the  establishment 
of  the  park  was  introduced  and  advocated  in  the  Senate  by 
Senator  Zebulon  Weaver,  of  Buncombe;  and  in  the  House  by 
Hon.  G.  P.  Deyton,  of  Yancey.  It  passed  both  houses  by  a 
large  majority. 

This  Act  of  the  General  Assembly  provided  for  a  Com- 
mission to  purchase  and  condemn  the  land  for  the  park.  I  ap- 
pointed on  this  Commission:  Messrs.  G.  P.  Deyton,  of  Yan- 
cey; E.  F.  Watson,  of  Yancey;  M.  C.  Honeycutt,  of  Yancey; 
Wilson  Hensley,  of  Yancey;  and  T.  E.  Blackstock,  of  Bun- 
combe. 

The  Commission  has  agreed  with  the  owners  as  to  the 
price  and  has  purchased  the  land  for  the  park  except  five  acres 
near  the  summit.  To  secure  this  five  acres,  condemnation 
proceedings  have  been  begun,  as  provided  by  hte  statute. 

The  land  on  the  summit,  including  the  grave  of  Dr.  Mit- 
chell, was  conveyed  about  forty  years  ago  to  Miss  Margaret 
Mitchell,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Mitchell.  Her  heirs  have  expressed 
their  willingness  to  convey  this  land  to  the  State. 


When  on  the  top  of  Mount  Mitchell  you  feel  that  you  are 
in  a  lofty  altitude,  and  amid  the  mighty  upheavals  of  the 


226  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

primeval  ages  of  the  planet.  Geologists  tell  us  that  this  is 
the  oldest  land  of  the  earth.  In  the  beginning  the  Spirit  of 
God  moved  upon  the  face  of  chaos,  and  God  said  let  the  waters 
under  the  heavens  be  gathered  together  in  one  place,  and  let 
the  dry  land  appear,  and  it  was  so.  At  this  command  of  the 
Almighty  the  tide  of  the  boundless  ocean  receded;  the  dome 
of  the  Appalachians  appeared  above  the  waste  of  waters. 
Before  Abraham  was,  this  mountain  was.  It  was  old  when 
Sinai  was  built.  It  was  dry  land  when  Noah's  deluge  swept 
over  Asia,  for  the  waters  did  not  rise  above  this  summit. 

On  this  mountain,  covered  with  forests  dark  and  somber, 
you  hear  in  the  ancient  winds  "The  voice  of  days  of  old  and 
days  to  be."  For  ages  it  has  stood  in  primeval  solitude  and 
solemn  grandeur,  while  above  and  around  and  beneath  the 
clouds  have  swept  and  the  storms  raged.  It  will  stand  in 
silent  and  august  majesty  when  austral  seas  shall  bury  our 
civilization  under  ocean  wastes. 

Here  nature  has  riven  the  awful  gorges  and  built  the  ever- 
lasting cliffs.  The  neighboring  peaks  of  the  Black  Mountains, 
all  over  six  thousand  feet,  clad  in  the  dark  rich  green  of  the 
balsam,  rank  worthily  with  the  commanding  monarch.  Across 
the  dizzy  depths  is  the  Pinnacle  of  the  Blue  Ridge ;  across  the 
Gorge  of  the  Swannanoa  rise  the  Craggies — The  Dome,  The 
Pinnacle,  and  The  Bull's  Head;  on  the  far  horizon  are  the 
towers  and  domes  of  the  vast  amphitheater  of  mountains — 
Table  Rock,  The  Roan,  Grandfather,  Tennessee  Bald,  Pisgah, 
and  a  hundred  others.  Peaks  and  ranges,  fold  behind  fold, 
higher  and  higher,  in  the  purpling  distance, 

"Loom  grander  far  than  any  sea." 

Mitchell's  best  view  is  at  sunrise.  In  the  light  of  Dawn 
the  world  of  mountains  seems  to  rise  out  of  the  darkness  of 
the  infinite  abyss ;  below  great  lakes  of  white  clouds  cover  the 
valleys ;  the  chambers  of  the  East  are  hung  with  crimson  and 
cloth  of  gold,  for  the  Majesty  of  Day  is  approaching  with  his 
escort  of  splendor ;  "From  dewey  branch  birds  here  and  there 
with  short  deep  warble  salute  the  coming  Sun.  Stars  fade 
out  and  Galaxies — Street  Lamps  of  the  City  of  God.  The 
Universe  is  flinging  wide  its  portals  for  the  Levee  of  the 
Great  High  King." 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  227 


THE  ACCOUNT  OF  HIS  STEWARDSHIP 

Governor  Craig's  Last  Message  To  The  General 
Assembly,  January  5th,  1917. 

To  the  Honorable  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Car- 
olina: The  days  of  my  ministration  are  accomplished.  In 
obedience  to  the  Constitution  and  in  compliance  with  your 
will,  I  speak  to  you  my  last  word  as  the  Governor  of  the  State 
of  North  Carolina. 

Four,  years  ago  you  invested  me  with  the  responsibilities 
of  this  high  office.  I  have  welcomed  every  opportunity  for 
service,  and  my  strength  and  energy  have  been  devoted  to 
the  State.  I  have  administered  this  office  steadfast  in  the 
resolve  to  do  exact  justice  to  all — to  the  rich  and  to  the  poor, 
to  the  strong  and  to  the  weak,  without  regard  to  race  or 
politics.  In  delivering  up  this  place  to  my  able  and  patriotic 
successor,  it  is  with  regret  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  do 
more  for  the  people  that  conferred  upon  me  the  honor  and 
the  trust  to  be  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  State. 

I  acknowledge  with  gratitude  the  courtesy  and  co- 
operation, the  faithful  work  of  all  my  associates  and  as- 
sistants in  office. 

I  reflect  with  some  pride  and  satisfaction  that  the  people, 
by  an  overwhelming  majority,  have  placed  the  seal  of  ap- 
proval upon  my  administration,  and  have  declared  their  con- 
fidence in  my  successor  and  his  administration. 

I  do  not  come  with  a  full  program  for  your  consideration ; 
that  task  will  be  performed  by  my  successor. 

In  my  opinion,  the  salaries  of  State  Officers  should  be  in- 
creased. The  Constitution  forbids  any  increase  of  the  salary 
of  Governor  and  Officers  created  during  their  terms  of  office. 
Any  increase  for  them  must  be  before  the  inauguration.  The 
greatly  increased  cost  of  living  has  made  all  salaries  less 
valuable.  It  seems  but  reasonable  that  we  should  pay  our 
Chief  Executive  as  much  as  the  Federal  Government  pays  the 
Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress.    The  Governor  can- 


228  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

not  live  in  the  Mansion  provided  by  the  State  at  the  present 
salary  and  do  the  things  expected  of  him,  and  Which  he  must 
do  in  accordance  with  established  custom  and  the  require- 
ments of  hospitality.  I  know  whereof  I  speak.  He  must  pro- 
vide the  means  from  other  sources,  and  this  the  State  does 
not  desire. 

The  same  observation  applies  to  all  the  State  Officers,  but 
the  Legislature  will  have  full  time  for  consideration  of  re- 
muneration to  all  of  them  except  the  Governor  and  the  mem- 
bers of  his  Council.  We  have  able,  conscientious  officials. 
They  are  worth  more,  they  earn  more  than  they  receive.  The 
people  of  North  Carolina  would  willingly  pay  a  reasonable 
and  just  compensation  for  efficient  service. 

All  the  offices  and  all  the  places  in  our  Government  have 
been  administered  in  economy  and  honesty,  above  the  breath 
of  scandal,  and  by  men  of  upright  lives  and  high  purpose, 
whose  daily  walk  is  in  the  Democratic  plainness  and  simplicity 
of  the  tribunes  of  ancient  Rome. 

At  the  last  election,  the  people  ratified  Amendments  to 
the  Constitution.  This  General  Assembly  must  enact  statutes 
to  make  them  effective.  You  will,  by  the  Amendments,  be 
relieved  of  a  vast  amount  of  local  legislation,  and  have  time 
for  the  consideration  of  problems  of  general  importance. 

Recently,  the  Republic  of  Cuba  has  come  into  possession 
of  "Reconstruction  Bonds"  amounting  to  more  than  two  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  and  is  attempting  to  enforce  the  payment  of 
these  bonds  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  The 
bonds  were  issued  in  the  evil  days  that  followed  the  war,  when 
corruption  and  plunder  were  shameless,  when  marauders  in- 
fested this  capital.  The  State  received  no  benefit  from  them. 
They  were  promptly  repudiated,  and  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention of  1875  made  unlawful  their  payment  by  any  official 
or  by  any  General  Assembly.  Their  dishonor  was  published 
to  the  world,  and  no  interest  upon  them  has  ever  been  paid. 

Adventurers  and  unscrupulous  speculators  have  procured 
or  gotten  control  of  many  of  these  bonds,  and  have  by  devious 
methods  attempted  to  collect  them.  The  Federal  Constitu- 
tion provides  that  no  individual  can  sue  the  Sovereign  State. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  229 

On  this  account,  the  holders  and  their  agents  have  attempted 
to  force  collection  through  the  agency  of  other  States  of  the 
Union,  and  for  this  purpose  have  offered  most  liberal  gifts  to 
States  with  whom  they  have  negotiated.  After  these  States 
became  informed  of  the  facts,  they  refused  to  touch  the  un- 
clean thing. 

If  North  Carolina  owed  the  bonds,  she  would  pay  them, 
and  would  have  recognized  their  validity.  She  does  not  owe 
them,  and  will  in  every  way  possible  resist  their  payment. 

The  citizens  of  North  Carolina  have  always  felt  the  deepest 
interest  in  the  welfare  and  destiny  of  the  Republic  of  Cuba. 
In  1898,  thousands  of  young  men  volunteered  from  the  State 
to  enlist  in  the  Army  for  the  relief  from  oppression  and  for 
the  liberty  of  the  people  of  that  island.  The  blood  of  the 
bravest  was  shed  in  the  war  of  emancipation  and  humanity. 
We  were,  for  these  reasons,  astonished  that  the  Republic  of 
Cuba  should  make  herself  a  party  to  the  unholy  alliance  for 
forcing  from  North  Carolina  the  payment  of  these  dishonored 
and  fraudulent  bonds. 

I  have  declined  to  consider  any  suggestion  of  compromise. 
I  have  declined  all  suggestions  of  negotiations  with  the  view 
to  securing  a  withdrawal  of  this  suit  by  the  Republic  of 
Cuba.  These  bonds  are  not  like  the  South  Dakota  bonds.  It 
is  inconceivable  to  me  that  the  action  can  be  maintained  in 
any  jurisdiction,  or  that  their  payment  by  this  Sovereign 
State  can  be  enforced  by  any  power.  I  have  employed  able 
counsel  to  assist  the  Attorney-General.  The  case  is  set  for 
argument  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  on  Mon- 
day, the  8th  of  January.  We  will  fight  it  to  a  finish.  I  am 
convinced  that  the  State  of  North  Carolina  will  prevail  in 
the  great  case  now  pending,  and  that  this  last  cloud  of  Re- 
construction which  has  threatened  for  fifty  years  upon  our 
horizon,  will  disappear  forever. 

I  rejoice  to  declare  that  the  State  is  in  better  condition 
than  at  any  period  in  her  whole  history,  that  the  governing 
party  that  placed  me  here  is  stronger  and  more  secure  than 
ever  in  the  loyalty  and  harmonious  union  of  its  members,  and 
that  by  the  long  continuation  of  a  government  of  integrity 


230  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

and  devotion  to  the  public  weal,  it  has  justified  the  confidence 
and  trust  of  the  people. 

In  our  memory  there  are  years  of  darkness  and  hardship 
with  tempests  of  war  for  a  background,  when  political  might 
prevailed,  and  its  minions  went  forth  to  plunder  and  to  de- 
vour, when  fields  were  barren,  when  people  were  poor  and 
discouraged,  and  when  opportunity  was  denied.  This  was 
indeed  a  land  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief.  We,  our- 
selves, have  been  witnesses  and  partakers  in  the  transforma- 
tion of  a  State  and  her  people.  Out  of  the  darkness  of  Re- 
construction, there  was  the  day  spring  of  '76.  The  people 
girded  their  loins  to  overcome  adversity.  They  re-established 
a  government  of  law  and  security.  They  rehabilitated  the 
State  and  her  institutions.  They  opened  the  university  and 
built  the  school. 

During  the  sixteen  years  of  this  century,  North  Carolina 
has  made  more  progress  than  in  all  the  years  of  her  preceding 
history.  In  substantial  development  she  has  been  surpassed 
by  no  State  of  the  Union,  nor  by  any  civilized  country  whose 
history  we  know.  Her  growth  and  accomplishment  is  like  a 
tale  of  Arabian  romance. 

We  are  an  agricultural  people,  and  agriculture  measures 
our  national  progress.  By  the  intelligent  cultivation  of  the 
soil,  the  yield  of  all  staple  crops  per  acre  has  been  about 
doubled.  The  acreage  of  tillage  has  been  increased  until  now 
the  State,  once  far  behind,  ranks  in  agriculture  among  the 
first  of  the  Union.  The  prosperity  of  the  farm  appears  to 
the  passerby  in  improved  fields,  improved  dwellings,  and  all 
the  appointments  of  the  farm. 

The  College  of  Agriculture  &  Mechanic  Arts  and  the  De- 
partment of  Agriculture  have  been  potential  agencies  in  this 
wonderful  development.  The  college  must  be  manned  and 
equipped  for  its  larger  usefulness.  It  should  have  5,000  stu- 
dents. Its  alumni  will  go  to  all  sections  of  the  State,  and  of 
the  country,  trained  for  captains  of  industry,  for  the  practical 
and  scientific  cultivation  of  the  soil  and  for  the  higher  de- 
velopment of  the  profession  of  agriculture. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  has  stimulated  farming  to 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  231 

increasing  activity.  It  has  protected  the  farmers  from  impo- 
sition, it  has  ascertained  and  encouraged  the  most  profitable 
crops  by  methods  of  intelligent  experiment  and  demonstra- 
tion. The  building  now  occupied  by  the  Department  is  not 
fit.  In  its  stead  there  should  be  erected  a  building  commen- 
surate with  the  requirements,  typifying  the  finest  and  the 
greatest  of  all  of  the  industries  of  North  Carolina. 

Manufacturing  is  prospering  as  never  before,  and  is  de- 
veloping in  every  section  of  the  State.  The  cotton  mills  alone 
require  for  their  operation  187,000  horse-power.  They  manu- 
facture all  the  cotton  that  we  produce  and  more.  The  value 
of  their  product  for  the  last  year  was  $100,000,000. 

The  utilization  of  water-power  is  assuming  large  propor- 
tions. On  a  twenty-mile  section  of  the  Yadkin  River,  250,000 
horse-power  is  now  in  course  of  development.  From  one  end 
of  the  State  to  the  other  are  electric  cables  through  which 
are  poured  the  transformed  power  of  the  French  Broad,  the 
Catawba,  the  Yadkin,  the  Pee  Dee,  the  Cape  Fear,  and  the 
Roanoke,  delivering  exhaustless  energy  to  the  centers  of  in- 
dustry, lighting  cities  and  towns,  and  driving  millions  of 
wheels  and  spindles.  The  commercial  advancement  of  our 
towns  and  cities  is  keeping  pace  with  manufacturing  and 
agriculture. 

The  country  home  is  no  longer  a  place  of  isolation  and 
desolation.  Improved  farming  brings  the  comforts  of  life; 
the  telephone,  the  mail  box,  good  schools,  and  good  roads 
enlarge  and  illuminate  the  horizon  of  country  life.  As  rural 
conditions  improve,  ambitious  youth  and  manhood  will  abide 
and  grow  in  the  free  and  pure  atmosphere  for  the  breeding 
of  a  robust  race.  The  country  home  should  be  provided  with 
all  modern  appliances  of  comfort  and  economy.  Rural  com- 
munities should  be  empowered  by  statute  to  incorporate  them- 
selves for  the  purpose  of  securing  water  and  light,  and  all 
available  public  utilities.  Running  water  in  the  home  is  the 
most  desirable  of  all  modern  conveniences.  It  saves  women 
and  children  from  drudgery  in  the  heat  and  in  the  cold.  It 
brings  comfort  and  cleanliness.  It  preserves  health.  Every 
farmer  of  modern  means  can  have  this  convenience.    It  is  not 


232  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

an  expense.  It  is  an  economy.  With  screens  in  the  windows 
and  pure  running  water  in  the  house,  the  home  will  be  clean 
and  sanitary,  and  the  people  who  dwell  therein  will  be  cleaner, 
healthier,  stronger  and  better. 

We  have  always  the  perplexing  question  of  taxation.  The 
Constitution  makes  the  solution  difficult.  The  large  per  cent 
of  the  personal  wealth  of  the  State  is  not  listed  for  taxation. 
One  cause  for  this  is  the  alleged  under-valuation  of  the  land. 

The  Corporation  Commission  made  an  intelligent  and 
courageous  effort  to  equalize  the  tax  values  of  the  State,  and 
have  accomplished  much,  but  the  situation  is  by  no  means 
satisfactory. 

There  are  in  the  State  vast  acres  of  unused  land  held  for 
speculation.  The  owners  neither  use  it  nor  intend  to  use  it. 
These  lands  are  listed  for  taxation  at  a  very  small  part  of 
their  sale  value.  In  assessments,  the  discrimination  is  in 
their  favor  and  against  the  lands  that  have  been  improved. 
These  unused  lands  should  not  be  favored  by  the  tax  assessor 
for  their  owners  are  appropriating  the  value — the  unearned 
increment  created  by  the  growth  and  enterprise  of  the  whole 
community.  If  there  be  any  discrimination  let  it  favor  the 
man  who  has  improved  by  industry  his  holdings,  and  made 
his  land  productive;  not  to  the  man  who  refuses  to  improve 
and  who  prevents  the  natural  development.  A  proper  assess- 
ment would  discourage  the  holdings  of  vacant  land  for  pur- 
poses of  speculation,  and  encourage  the  industrious  and  the 
energetic  to  buy  their  own  homes.  This  is  especially  true  of 
city  and  suburban  property. 

There  is  nothing  that  contributes  more  to  the  strength 
and  patriotism,  the  highest  development  of  citizenship,  than 
the  ownership  of  homes.  A  proprietor  is  independent.  He 
cannot  be  a  serf.  Every  farmer  in  North  Carolina  should  de- 
termine to  own  the  land  upon  which  he  lives,  though  the 
acreage  be  small.  He  will  then  have  a  firm  dwelling  place,  a 
steadfast  interest  in  country  and  government. 

The  Federal  Reserve  Act  has  destroyed  the  money  mo- 
nopoly. The  Farm  Loan  Bank  recognizes  the  land  as  security 
upon  which  money  can  be  obtained  on  long  and  easy  terms. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  233 

Land  in  North  Carolina  is  comparatively  cheap.  A  man  of 
energy  and  determination  can  own  his  home  if  he  will. 

Good  roads  have  been  a  potential  agency  for  the  welfare 
of  the  State.  In  obedience  to  the  dictates  of  common  sense, 
business  requirements  and  the  progressive  spirit  of  the  age, 
the  people  of  North  Carolina  have  determined  to  have  good 
roads.  During  the  last  four  years,  we  have  built  twice  as 
many  miles  of  improved  highways  as  in  all  our  preceding  his- 
tory. We  now  have  about  15,000  miles  of  well  graded,  sur- 
faced roads.  In  January,  1913,  we  had  about  5,000  miles. 
We  have  built  10,000  since  then. 

During  the  last  four  years,  the  Central  Highway*  has  been 
built  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  over  the  coastal  plain,  over  the 
hills  of  the  Piedmont,  over  the  Blue  Ridge  to  the  Canyon  of 
the  Great  Rocky  Mountains.  The  section  of  this  road  from 
Old  Fort  to  Ridge  Crest,  and  a  section  in  Madison  County, 
were  built  by  State  convicts.  Within  the  last  four  years,  the 
highway  from  Charlotte  to  Asheville  has  been  completed. 
The  State  convicts  built  that  difficult  section  from  Chimney 
Rock  to  Hickory  Nut  Gap.  Similar  highways  have  been  built 
across  the  State  and  into  every  section.  Road  building  goes 
on  with  increasing  momentum.  No  community  will  be  with- 
out unless  it  be  satisfied  to  deny  itself  the  improvements  of 
modern  life  in  this  day  of  enlightenment  and  progress.  The 
old  country  road  of  rocks  and  mud  and  steep  hills,  consuming 
energy,  forbidding  progress,  is  past.  With  good  roads,  com- 
munities are  correlated,  markets  are  available,  schools  and 
churches  are  accessible,  land  rises  in  value,  progress  is  in- 
evitable. Our  highways  are  immeasurably  finer  than  "The 
King's  Highway"  of  old,  and  they  are  the  tracks  for  the  swift 
and  powerful  vehicles. 

The  automobile  is  the  modern  machine  for  local  trans- 
portation. They  are  rapidly  coming  into  universal  use.  We 
cannot  get  along  without  them,  and  they  cannot  get  along 
without  the  good  road.  Their  indispensable  efficiency  is  not 
available  without  the  graded,  surfaced  highway.  They  are 
monopolizing  the  roads,  and  they  make  road  building  and 
road  maintenance  far  more  expensive.     They  should  bear  a 

♦Now  the  Old  Hickory  Highway. 


234  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

large  part  of  this  burden.  The  tax  on  them  might  be  in- 
creased, and  their  owners  would  not  complain,  provided  the 
money  be  applied  to  the  betterment  of  the  roads. 

The  State  Highway  Commission  was  established  by  the 
General  Assembly  of  1915.  This  Commission  has  justified  its 
creation.  Its  usefulness  has  been  limited  by  lack  of  funds. 
The  revenue  from  automobiles  might  be  largely  administered 
by  the  Commission.  The  modern  highway  is  no  longer  a 
neighborhood  affair,  but  a  State  institution  for  communica- 
tion and  use  by  the  people  of  different  sections.  By  improper 
location  and  construction,  a  vast  amount  of  money  has  been 
spent  not  to  the  best  advantage.  This  can  in  the  future  be 
remedied  by  conferring  upon  the  Commission  supervisory 
powers.  Competent  and  experienced  engineers  could  be  furn- 
ished. 

On  all  of  the  principal  highways,  railroad  grade  crossings 
should  be  abolished.  This  is  demanded  for  the  utility  of  the 
road,  for  the  economy  of  the  railroad,  and  in  the  interest  of 
safety  and  human  life.  The  railroads  are  now  more  pros- 
perous than  ever  before.  Their  net  earnings  are  greater.  For 
the  last  fiscal  year,  the  net  earnings  of  the  railroads  of  the 
South  were  approximately  $3,500  per  mile.  They  have  already 
realized  the  duty  which  they  owe  to  the  public  of  removing 
this  inconvenience  and  danger.  They  have  begun  the  work, 
and  should  proceed  with  all  possible  expedition  while  the 
expense  can  be  easily  borne. 

The  authorities  of  the  State  have  the  right  to  compel  the 
abolition  of  grade  crossings.  I  do  not  mean  that  the  whole 
evil  should  be  remedied  at  once.  Due  consideration  should 
be  given  to  the  transportation  companies,  but  in  the  location 
and  the  building  of  our  highways  we  should  avoid  the  grade 
crossings.  The  State  Highway  Commission  might  designate, 
after  consultation  with  the  Corporation  Commission  and  with 
the  companies,  what  crossings  should  be  abolished. 

Through  the  Highway  Commission,  the  State  is  enabled 
to  receive  the  benefits  of  the  Federal  Aid  Road  Bill,  which 
places  at  our  disposal  for  road  construction  $115,000  for  the 
present  year,  and  an  increasing  amount  for  each  succeeding 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  235 

year.  One  of  the  provisions  of  this  Federal  Act  is  that  funds 
must  be  provided  for  the  maintenance  of  roads  upon  which 
the  Federal  money  is  expended.  The  State  must  therefore 
provide  a  maintenance  fund  if  we  are  to  take  advantage  of 
this  Federal  aid,  and  co-operate  with  the  Federal  Government. 

It  has  been  the  recognized  policy  of  the  State  to  aid  in  the 
construction  of  certain  railroads  in  the  Piedmont  Section  and 
across  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains.  Convicts  have  been  furn- 
ished to  the  Statesville  Air  Line  Railway,  the  Elkin  &  Alle- 
ghany Railway,  and  to  the  Watauga  &  Yadkin  Valley  Rail- 
way. These  convicts  are  not  paid  for  in  cash,  but  as  au- 
thorized by  law,  are  paid  for  in  stock  of  the  companies.  This 
stock  has  no  market  value.  But  the  consideration  is  not  the 
value  of  the  stock,  but  the  value  to  the  State  of  that  mag- 
nificent country  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  These  railroads, 
when  built,  will  connect  that  country  with  the  State.  In  trade 
and  commercial  intercourse,  it  is  cut  off  from  North  Carolina 
by  impassable  mountains  and  has  been  forced  to  trade  with 
the  cities  of  Virginia,  and  send  to  them  its  valuable  products. 
This  is  a  section  with  a  splendid  destiny.  We  need  its  fertile 
lands  and  vast  forests.  It  is  equal  in  beauty  and  natural 
richness  to  the  famous  Southwestern  Virginia  Section  which 
it  adjoins.  As  a  matter  of  justice  to  the  patriotic  citizenship 
that  dwells  in  the  counties  of  Alleghany,  Ashe  and  Watauga, 
the  State  should  aid  in  securing  for  them  railroad  transporta- 
tion for  their  development  and  for  our  mutual  benefit. 

At  the  beginning  of  my  administration,  freight  was 
hauled  from  the  North  and  the  Northwest  through  the  State 
of  North  Carolina  and  delivered  to  the  cities  of  Virginia  at 
a  lower  rate  than  the  carriers  would  stop  this  same  class  of 
freight  and  deliver  it  to  the  cities  of  North  Carolina.  By  this 
lower  rate,  the  merchants  of  Virginia  were  enabled  to  sell 
goods  in  the  State  of  North  Carolina  cheaper  than  the  mer- 
chants of  North  Carolina  could  sell  the  same  class  of  goods 
at  their  very  doors.  Business  was  obliged  to  leave  the  State. 
The  cities  of  Virginia  flourished  at  our  expense. 

The  Federal  Government  had  jurisdiction  of  this  question. 
The  injustice  was  indefensible.    The  people  of  North  Carolina 


236  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

had  borne  it  for  many  years.  In  1913,  this  unjust  discrimi- 
nation was  remedied  to  a  large  extent.  Public  opinion  was 
the  compelling  power.  It  found  expression  through  the  Just 
Freight  Rate  Association,  and  encouragement  in  a  General 
Assembly  that  was  ready  to  go  to  the  limit  to  compel  justice 
and  secure  the  rights  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina.  Earnest 
men  held  meetings  in  various  cities.  The  wrong  was  exposed, 
the  General  Assembly  was  called  in  extra  session.  The 
difficulties  were  great,  and  while  complete  equity  was  not 
obtained,  the  remedy  was  substantial.  Under  present  con- 
ditions, North  Carolina  wholesale  merchants  have  the  ad- 
vantage in  our  territory  over  competitors  in  any  other  State. 

By  this  extra  session  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1913,  a 
statute  was  passed  for  the  reduction  of  intrastate  freight 
rates.  In  accordance  with  the  power  conferred  upon  the 
Governor,  a  Commission  was  appointed  to  fix  transportation 
charges  within  the  State.  The  report  of  this  Commission 
was  accepted  by  the  people,  by  the  carriers,  and  by  the 
General  Assembly.  The  railroads  have  sought  before  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to  raise  some  of  our  State 
schedules,  but  in  all  controversies  the  State  has  prevailed, 
and  the  rates  fixed  by  the  Commission  are  now  established. 

By  the  reduction  of  interstate  rates  and  intrastate  rates, 
our  people  have  saved  by  careful  estimate  $2,000,000  a  year. 
The  spirit  of  progress  has  been  relieved  from  unjust  oppres- 
sion. Commercial  and  industrial  enterprises  have  been  en- 
couraged and  established.  A  prosperity  has  come  that  could 
not  have  resulted  under  former  conditions. 

There  is  another  phase  of  this  subject  that  I  would  im- 
press upon  this  General  Assembly,  upon  the  Corporation  Com- 
mission and  upon  the  people  of  the  State.  Freight  originating 
in  North  Carolina  going  to  the  States  south  of  us  is  subjected 
to  the  same  tariff  as  the  same  class  of  freight  originating  in 
Virginia.  North  Carolina  is  entitled  to  a  decided  advantage 
upon  all  such  merchandise.  The  haul  is  much  shorter.  Mak- 
ing all  fair  allowances,  this  freight  originating  in  North  Car- 
olina going  south  should  bear  an  average  tariff  of  twenty 
cents  less  on  the  hundred  pounds.     There  is  no  justification 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  237 

for  fixing  the  same  tariff  upon  south-bound  freight  for  the 
two  States,  when  the  Virginia  freight  must  be  hauled  through 
the  State  of  North  Carolina.  We  are  entitled  to  the  advan- 
tage of  our  geographical  situation,  and  we  should  not  rest 
content  until  this  unjust  discrimination  be  corrected.  Eternal 
vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty. 

In  recent  years,  the  railroads  have  manifested  a  disposi- 
tion and  a  desire  to  treat  the  people  with  fairness  and  to  con- 
duct and  to  regulate  their  business  in  accordance  with  a  well 
conceived  public  sentiment.  Their  managers  are  men  of  pa- 
triotism and  broad  views.  I  hope  for  the  continuation  of 
peace  and  co-operation  between  the  people  and  the  carriers 
for  actual  welfare  in  just  regard  to  all  concerned. 

The  State  has  done  well.  She  is  just  emerging  into  her 
strength.  Destiny  calls.  She  can  accomplish  vastly  more. 
Higher  things  demand  to  be  done.  To  the  energy,  the  faith 
and  genius  of  our  people,  the  future  is  unfolding  in  sublime 
revelation. 

"But,  oh,  not  the  hills  of  Habersham, 
And,  oh,  not  the  valleys  of  Hall. 
Avail:  I  am  fain  for  to  water  the  plain. 
Downward  the  voices  of  Duty  call — 
Downward,  to  toil  and  be  mixed  with  the  main 
The  dry  fields  burn,  and  the  mills  are  to  turn, 
And  a  myriad  flowers  mortally  yearn, 
And  the  lordly  main  from  beyond  the  plain 
Calls  o'er  the  hills  of  Habersham, 
Calls  through  the  valleys  of  Hall." 

But  material  development  is  not  the  object  of  man's 
highest  endeavor.  Life,  not  economics,  is  the  purpose  of 
society — the  ultimate  aim  of  civilization.  All  wealth  and  all 
laws  and  all  government  must  have  as  their  purpose  a  fuller 
and  a  finer  life,  a  better  social  order.  In  the  day  of  our  pros- 
perity, we  must  not  forget  our  institutions  of  learning.  We 
must  not  forget  the  places  where  children  and  men  and  wo- 
men are  educated  to  the  higher  conceptions.  I  do  not  like  our 
boast  that  we  are  running  the  cheapest  university,  and  the 
cheapest  normal  schools  in  the  world.     We  need  the  best  in 


238  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

the  world.  These  institutions  have  done  splendid  and  in- 
dispensable work.  They  must  grow  or  we  go  backward.  Hope 
must  not  be  denied  to  aspiring  youth.  Who  can  estimate  the 
worth  of  our  university,  the  normal  schools,  the  denomina- 
tional colleges,  the  public  schools  ?  Our  intellectual  and  moral 
growth  must  be  commensurate  with  our  material  growth. 
We  rejoice  that  the  old  log  school  houses  have  disappeared, 
that  now  in  every  community  there  is  a  school  building,  the 
pride  of  that  community,  and  equal  to  the  college  buildings 
of  the  days  of  our  childhood.  These  measure  the  efficiency 
of  the  school.  The  patriotic  citizens  of  North  Carolina  will- 
ingly pay  taxes  for  the  education  of  the  young.  They  are  not 
willing  that  our  educational  institutions  should  not  develop 
with  the  increasing  demands  of  the  age.  Facilities  must  be 
provided  for  the  boys  and  girls  in  North  Carolina  who  are 
eager  for  the  strength  and  equipment  of  life. 

During  my  administration,  every  institution  in  this  State 
and  every  Department  of  the  State  Government  has  been  sub- 
jected to  the  most  thorough  investigation.  Everything  has 
been  uncovered.  No  dishonesty  has  been  anywhere  found. 
The  Board  of  Internal  Improvements  has  done  its  work  fear- 
lessly and  without  favoritism.  The  institutions  are  of  the 
highest  order. 

We  are  expending  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  every 
year  in  taking  care  of  the  insane,  the  deaf  and  dumb,  the 
blind  and  the  feeble-minded.  This  is  an  obligation  that  no 
State  can  avoid.  For  if  in  the  days  of  our  good  fortune  we 
do  not  remember  them,  our  hearts  would  be  hardened  and 
our  land  would  be  accursed.  And  when,  according  to  the 
plan  of  the  last  General  Assembly,  we  build  the  new  school 
for  the  blind,  let  us  not  be  more  niggardly  to  them  than  any 
other  State. 

The  Jackson  Training  School  for  youthful  derelicts  is 
doing  a  noble  work.  Humane  consideration  for  wayward 
boys  demands  its  enlargement. 

We  have  not  forgotten  the  soldiers  of  the  Confederacy. 
We  have  provided  for  them  a  home,  clean  and  comfortable, 
kept  in  a  high  state  of  efficiency.     These  veterans  are  fast 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  239 

disappearing.  They  are  all  disabled  by  age,  and  by  the  wounds 
and  the  hardships  of  war.  Our  privilege  to  help  them  is 
closing,  for  the  captains  and  the  soldiers  are  departing. 

It  is  noble  to  provide  for  the  sick  and  the  afflicted,  but 
the  prevention  of  disease  of  mind  and  of  body  is  the  aim  of 
the  higher  and  wiser  humanity.  This  is  the  task  for  modern 
pathology.  Men  and  women  and  children  suffer  and  die  from 
causes  that  can  be  removed.  They  are  deaf  and  dumb  and 
are  stricken  with  blindness  and  insanity,  condemned  to  lives 
of  darkness  and  hopelessness,  not  by  the  inscrutable  decrees 
of  Providence,  but  by  the  failure  of  society  to  protect  them 
against  the  enemy  more  cruel  than  death. 

The  State  has  no  duty  more  imperative  than  the  conser- 
vation and  the  promotion  of  health.  Four  years  ago,  the 
General  Assembly  passed  the  vital  statistical  law.  It  has 
done  immense  good  in  ascertaining  the  causes  of  disease  and 
death.  The  work  for  the  prevention  of  disease  has  been  stim- 
ulated. The  State  Board  of  Health  is  waging  a  campaign  of 
energy  and  intelligence  against  tuberculosis,  typhoid  fever 
and  malaria,  and  such  diseases  that  can  be  exterminated  by 
intelligent  and  determined  action.  Many  counties  have  em- 
ployed health  officers.  They  are  doing  good  work,  but  as  yet 
the  health  work  is  by  the  county  as  a  unit.  The  conserva- 
tion of  health  is  not  a  local  question.  The  State  has  an  in- 
terest. The  State  Board  of  Health  should  have  general  super- 
vision of  this  work,  and  each  community  should  have  the 
benefit  of  its  expert  knowledge  and  wide  experience.  This 
Board  should  have  power  to  know  by  systematic  reports  the 
conditions  and  the  work  in  each  locality.  Such  correlation 
and  publicity  would  increase  efficiency  and  excite  emulation 
of  every  health  officer  in  the  State.  The  State  Board  should 
be  given  the  power  to  locate  and  reasonable  means  to  prevent 
the  spread  of  contageous  diseases.  Modern  facilities  for 
travel  give  wings  to  disease.  Infantile  paralysis,  scarlet 
fever  and  other  contagions  may  in  a  day  be  transported  to 
distant  counties  for  the  establishment  of  new  centers  of  in- 
fection, with  dire  calamity.  The  State  Law  provides  no  pro- 
tection against  this.     The  Federal  Statute  provides  against 


240  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

interstate  contagion,  but  there  is  no  State  Statute  to  provide 
against  intrastate  contagion. 

North  Carolina  has  the  largest  birth  rate  as  to  white 
children  of  any  State  in  the  Union — more  babies  per  capita 
than  any  other  country.  This  "infant  industry"  deserves  and 
demands  protection.  They  are  the  most  desirable  immi- 
grants— thoroughbred  from  Norman  and  Saxon  sires. 

During  the  last  four  years,  the  State's  Prison  has  been 
successful  beyond  precedent.  Above  all  expenses  of  every 
kind,  it  has  earned  for  the  State  the  net  sum  of  $350,000.  To 
the  Superintendent  of  the  Prison,  the  Board  of  Directors  and 
their  subordinates  credit  must  be  given  for  this  result.  The 
institution  has  been  managed  with  ability,  honesty,  economy 
and  in  humane  consideration  for  the  prisoner.  This  money 
has  been  made  for  the  State  by  the  work  of  the  prisoners  on 
the  State  Farm,  on  the  State  Highways,  on  the  railroads,  and 
at  the  quarries  and  dams  of  the  Yadkin  River. 

The  making  of  money  for  the  State  is  not  the  principal 
purpose  of  prison  management.  In  this  flood-tide  of  pros- 
perity and  plenty,  the  families  of  most  of  the  prisoners  were 
in  need  of  food  and  raiment.  In  many  instances  women  and 
children  were  destitute.  The  poor  and  little  ones  suffer  in 
winter.  To  me  it  seemed  just,  and  to  the  Prison  Board  it 
seemed  just  that  out  of  the  earings  of  the  unfortunates  a 
small  amount  be  sent  to  their  scanty,  needy  homes  to  relieve 
some  distress,  and  as  a  testimonial  of  justice  and  sympathy. 
This  seemed  especially  appropriate  in  these  days  of  good-will 
and  benevolence.  Some  may  criticise  this  act  as  unauthor- 
ized, and  object  to  it  as  an  unsafe  precedent,  but  if  this 
General  Assembly  condemns  it,  every  dollar  of  the  money 
will  be  promptly  returned.  "Swear,"  said  the  captuous  Roman 
tribune  to  the  consul,  "swear  that  you  have  observed  the 
laws."  "I  swear,"  said  the  consul,  "that  I  have  served  the 
Republic."  And  we  too  in  this  have  obeyed  the  law  of  hu- 
manity and  righteousness,  and  done  the  will  of  the  people  of 
North  Carolina. 

I  hope  that  this  General  Assembly  will  by  statute,  con- 
sistent with  the  economic  welfare  of  the  Prison,  provide  for 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  241 

some  return  to  the  dependent,  needy  families  of  prisoners  in 
times  of  prosperity  like  these. 

I  do  not  believe  in  "coddling"  criminals.  Crime  must  be 
punished.  Justice  is  stern.  The  innocent  suffer  for  the  sins 
of  the  guilty.  It  was  so  declared  on  Sanai.  It  is  the  in- 
exorable decree.  But  the  law  grows  "with  the  growing  hu- 
manity of  the  age,  and  broadens  with  the  process  of  the  suns." 
At  the  final  judgment,  in  divine  commiseration  may  be  spoken 
of  us  too:  "I  was  in  prison  and  ye  ministered  unto  Me. 
*  *  *  For  inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  the  least  of  these  My 
brethren,  ye  did  it  unto  Me." 

Out  of  the  surplus  already  earned  by  the  institution,  this 
General  Assembly,  in  obedience  to  the  plainest  duty,  should 
allow  and  direct  the  Board  of  Directors  to  build  on  the  Cale- 
donia Farm  a  modern  prison,  equipped  with  appurtenances 
and  appliances  for  the  proper  care,  custody  and  training  of 
the  State's  convicts.  It  seems  to  be  the  established  policy  of 
the  State  to  maintain  this  farm  as  the  place  of  penal  servi- 
tude. The  buildings  there  are  not  adequate,  and  no  longer 
tolerable.  I  do  not  see  the  necessity  for  the  continued  main- 
tenance of  the  Central  Prison  at  Raleigh.  The  whole  institu- 
tion can  be  centralized  at  Caledonia. 

During  my  term  of  office  pardons  and  commutations  have 
been  granted  to  four  hundred  and  twenty-eight  persons  con- 
victed in  the  courts.  Most  of  these  convictions  were  for  mis- 
demeanors, and  in  many  cases,  judgments  were  pronounced 
in  contemplation  of  a  conditional  pardon,  with  the  object  of 
restraining  the  offender  from  further  violations  of  law.  In 
my  opinion  such  judgments  are  not  in  accordance  with  the 
proper  administration  of  justice.  It  places  upon  the  Exe- 
cutive the  labor  and  the  opportunity  to  accurately  ascertain 
the  facts.  The  courts  might  be  invested  with  power  to  pro- 
nounce conditional  and  indeterminate  sentences,  but  the  judg- 
ments of  the  courts  should  be  pronounced  as  a  finality. 

I  have  granted  no  pardon  nor  commutation  except  upon 
the  conclusion,  after  most  careful  consideration,  that  justice 
and  humanity  demanded  it.  In  each  case,  the  facts  have  been 
fairly  stated,  with  the  reasons.    The  press  of  the  State  has 


242  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

generally  approved.  The  disappointment  and  sorrow  of  those 
whose  petitions  have  been  denied  have  touched  me  deeper 
than  criticisms  for  judgments  that  to  me  seemed  just  and 
merciful. 

During  my  term,  seventeen  men  have  been  punished  by 
death.  I  have  spared  human  life  unless  the  extreme  penalty 
was  justified  by  the  evidence  and  demanded  by  the  law. 

On  the  16th  of  last  July,  a  great  flood  wrought  disaster  in 
Western  North  Carolina.  There  has  been  no  such  swell  of 
waters  since  the  country  was  settled  by  the  white  people. 
The  flood  gates  of  heaven  were  lifted  and  the  deluge  poured 
down.  The  sides  of  the  mountains  were  torn  loose.  The  val- 
leys were  flooded  by  raging  torrents.  Trees,  crops,  buildings, 
roads,  railroads  and  the  land  itself  were  swept  away.  Ani- 
mals could  not  escape,  and  many  human  beings  were  lost. 
The  homes  and  fertile  fields  by  the  rivers  were  destroyed. 
The  rich  bottom  lands  of  the  Yadkin,  the  Catawba  and  tribu- 
taries were  turned  to  desert  waste. 

In  this  overwhelming  disaster  the  people  were  bewildered. 
They  were  for  a  time  without  food  and  shelter.  When  the 
extent  of  the  calamity  became  known,  the  people  of  the  State 
nobly  responded.  Eagerly,  generously,  they  gave,  not  in  the 
spirit  of  condescending  charity,  but  in  the  discharge  of  an 
obligation  to  the  unfortunate  of  their  own  race  and  kindred. 

Edward  E.  Britton  was  made  Chairman  of  the  State  Relief 
Committee.  More  than  $45,000  have  been  received  by  him. 
Local  Committees  were  organized  in  every  county  that  had 
been  stricken.  Through  the  various  local  organizations  at 
least  $50,000  more  have  been  contributed.  All  destitution  was 
relieved.  There  has  been  no  suffering.  At  present,  there  is 
money  in  the  hands  of  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  in 
each  county  that  has  asked  for  relief.  The  leading  men  in 
the  State  offered  their  services  without  compensation,  and 
went  to  carry  relief  and  encouragement.  Neighbors  divided 
with  the  needy  whatever  they  had,  and  throughout  the  State 
the  finest  spirit  of  sympathy  was  manifest  in  contributions 
by  all  classes  of  people. 

The  forests  of  North  Carolina  furnish  annually  a  product 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  243 

of  immense  value.  On  the  coastal  plain  and  in  the  mountains, 
we  once  had  a  forest  and  a  timber  supply  unsurpassed  in  any- 
country.  A  vast  portion  of  this  has  disappeared  by  unwise 
and  wasteful  cutting.  The  pine  of  the  east  and  the  hardwood 
of  the  mountains  would  readily  come  again  on  our  fertile  soil 
if  properly  protected.  The  lumberman  should  be  controlled 
by  laws  for  the  economic  use  of  the  forest.  Destruction  by 
fire  should  be  prevented.  Though  the  fairest  part  of  this  in- 
heritance of  ours  is  gone,  much  remains,  and  can  be  saved  for 
this  and  the  next  generation.  The  sources  of  supply  of  the 
rivers  that  water  the  plains  and  turn  the  wheels  of  industry 
can  be  protected  and  conserved.  Ruinous  floods  can  be  to  a 
large  extent  prevented. 

Under  an  Act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1915,  the  State 
has  a  clear  title  to  about  six  hundred  acres  on  and  around  the 
summit  of  Mount  Mitchell.  This  area  is  covered  with  a  virgin 
growth  of  luxuriant  spruce  or  balsam.  Around  this  section 
now  owned  by  the  State,  the  forest  has  been  mowed  down  by 
the  lumberman.  The  diy  resinous  debris  is  most  inflammable. 
After  the  lumberman,  conflagrations  with  terrific  waste  have 
swept  these  mountain  areas,  leaving  the  vast  slopes  of  black- 
ened desolation.  But  for  the  purchase  by  the  State,  the  whole 
of  Mount  Mitchell  would  be  a  barren  waste.  Now,  as  far  as 
this  majestic  mountain,  the  highest  east  of  the  Rockies,  can 
be  seen,  the  dark  green  of  its  summit  is  discernible  above  the 
ruin.  A  railroad  runs  from  the  town  of  Black  Mountain  to 
the  edge  of  the  park  established  by  the  State.  Its  terminus 
is  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  from  the  top.  Thousands  of 
people  visit  this  mountain  during  the  summer.  Each  year 
multiplies  the  number.  The  State  should  recognize  and  regu- 
late this  railroad  as  a  common  carrier  of  passengers,  and 
should  confer  upon  the  Governor  the  power  to  appoint  a  Com- 
mission composed  of  patriotic,  interested  citizens  to  serve 
without  pay,  for  the  protection  and  the  management  of  the 
park  on  the  summit  of  Mount  Mitchell.  General  Julian  S. 
Carr  has  consented  to  head  a  Committee  for  the  building  of 
a  memorial  to  Dr.  Elisha  Mitchell  upon  this  mountain.  This 
insures  a  structure  suitable  to  the  solemnity  and  the  majesty 


244  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

of  the  sublime  height,  the  most  famous  in  Eastern  America. 

The  General  Assembly  of  1915  enacted  a  law  for  the  regu- 
lation of  the  fishing  industry  and  for  the  conservation  of  the 
fish  of  Eastern  North  Carolina.  Our  waters  have  been  and 
are  the  source  of  a  valuable  food  supply.  They  have  been 
wastefully  exploited  and  the  yield  largely  diminished.  But  by 
wise  and  economic  management,  conditions  will  improve  and 
the  fishing  industry  be  restored  for  the  welfare  of  the  whole 
State,  and  the  eastern  section  especially. 

The  law  of  1915  has  been  administered  by  proficient  men 
who  have  earnestly  devoted  themselves  to  the  important 
work.  Heretofore  the  subject  has  been  dealt  with  as  local, 
but  now  as  one  of  State  concern,  properly  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  State.  These  waters  are  not  private  property. 
Opposition  has  been  encountered.  The  Fisheries  Commission 
Board  and  executive  officers  have  enforced  the  law  firmly, 
but  with  discretion  and  consideration.  The  healthy  public 
sentiment  now  approves.  The  people  are  coming  to  realize 
that  this  law  is  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  fishing  in- 
dustry from  destruction,  for  the  ultimate  good  of  the  fisher- 
men, and  for  the  good  of  the  public.  We  have  the  most  val- 
uable fishing  waters  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  and  must  not  allow 
them  to  be  destroyed. 

During  the  month  of  June,  the  National  Guard  was  called 
to  mobilize  for  the  defense  of  the  Southern  Border  and  to 
meet  the  dangers  that  threatened.  The  soldiers  of  every  com- 
pany in  the  State  willingly  volunteered.  Some  went  at  much 
sacrifice,  but  they  did  not  complain.  At  El  Paso,  under  the 
command  of  Brigadier-General  Laurence  W.  Young,  they  have 
distinguished  themselves  for  discipline  and  for  military  train- 
ing and  efficiency.  They  have  reflected  credit  upon  the  State 
in  peace,  and  were  ready  with  the  courage  and  patriotism  of 
their  fathers  to  carry  the  flag  to  the  farthest  front  of  battle. 
The  love  and  the  admiration  of  the  folks  at  home  have  been 
with  them  and  we  hope  for  their  return  as  soon  as  their 
presence  on  the  Rio  Grande  is  no  longer  demanded. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  those  brave  men  in  the  service  of 
their  country  were  in  the  last  election  deprived  of  the  right 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  245 

of  franchise.  We  need  a  statute  to  enable  any  citizen  of  this 
State  to  cast  his  vote  when  away  from  home  by  unavoidable 
necessity. 

In  this  State,  every  citizen,  every  corporation,  every  le- 
gitimate enterprise,  has  had  and  should  forever  have  the  pro- 
tection and  the  encouragement  of  just  laws  and  fair  and 
honest  government.  The  civic  purpose  and  effort  has  been  to 
guarantee  universal  opportunity  and  the  betterment  of  all  the 
ranks  of  society. 

And  now  we  should  remember  with  devout  gratitude  that 
we  dwell  in  this  land  of  freedom,  of  prosperity,  and  peace. 
With  the  Hebrew  poet  we  can  say: 

"How  goodly  are  thy  tents,  oh,  Jacob ;  and  thy  tabernacles, 
oh,  Israel!" 

In  this  time  of  war  and  confusion,  our  Nation  has  stood 
for  the  law  of  civilization,  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  for 
the  rights  of  American  citizens  in  all  lands.  Every  American 
demand  has  been  acknowledged,  and  every  American  right 
has  been  conceded.  The  Schoolmaster  of  Princeton  College 
has  become  the  world  teacher  of  a  new  diplomacy.  His 
dogmas  of  righteousness  are  more  powerful  than  forty-two 
centimeter  guns.  He  has  dictated  to  militant  kings  and  em- 
perors the  principles  of  humanity,  and  has  exalted  the  majesty 
of  justice  above  all  thrones. 

The  countries  across  the  Atlantic  are  consumed  by  the 
vast  conflagration  of  desolation,  Europe  is  crushed  and  bleed- 
ing. The  flower  of  her  men  have  been  destroyed,  and  are  halt 
and  maimed  and  blind  and  maniac  by  the  savage  weapons  of 
this  war.  All  her  women  and  children  are  in  mourning. 
Lurid,  ghastly  and  relentless  War  still  strikes  and  strikes 
with  unabated  fury  and  reaps  his  boundless  harvest  of  death 
and  destruction.  Thus  far  we  have  been  spared.  We  have 
been  spared  through  the  wisdom,  the  patience,  the  steadfast 
courage,  of  this  great  servant  of  God — reserved  for  a  supreme 
duty,  when  the  fullness  of  time  shall  come. 

When  the  peoples  that  drink  the  cup  of  trembling  in  the 
horror  of  great  darkness  shall  behold  the  dawn  of  the  coming 
day,  Woodrow  Wilson  will  stand  forth  as  the  Prophet,  and 
the  Arbiter  of  the  Peace  of  Righteousness  for  the  World,  to 
point  the  nations  to  the  higher  way  of  truth  and  freedom,  to 
turn  the  hearts  of  the  disobedient,  to  the  Wisdom  of  the 
Just. 


246  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 


THE  account  of  his  stewardship  rendered,  through  his 
farewell  message  to  the  General  Assembly,  his  trust 
discharged  with  honor  to  himself  and  the  State, 
Governor  Craig  turned  over  the  affairs  of  his  office  to  his 
duly  elected  successor  early  in  January,  1917.  It  was  a 
typical  January  day.  The  skies  were  overcast,  and  the  chill 
penetrating — the  Governor  broken  in  health.  His  great  public 
service  had  been  rendered.  His  promises  had  been  brought 
to  fruition.  He  had  kept  the  faith.  Again  he  came  before 
his  people,  and  again  his  beautiful  voice  rang  out  in  the  place 
where  cheering  thousands  had  gathered  for  his  inauguration 
four  years  before: 

"By  authority  of  the  People  of  North  Carolina, 
And  of  the  General  Assembly,  Mr.  Chief  Justice, 
I  present  to  you  Thomas  Walter  Bickett, 
Governor-Elect,  and  ask  that  you  administer  to  him 
The  oath  of  office." 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  247 

ASHEVILLE'S  WELCOME  HOME 
TO  LOCKE  CRAIG 

(January  12th,  1917) 

NOTE:  On  his  return,  the  people  of  Asheville  gathered  at  the 
Majestic  Theat<re  to  welcome  their  Governor  and  his  family  back  home. 
They  presented  him  with  a  beautiful  service  of  silver,  and  there  were 
cordial  welcoming  addresses  from  prominent  citizens.  The  following 
account  is  from  The  Asheville  Times,  though  only  a  part  of  it  can  be 
found : 

Asheville  gave  Governor  Craig  a  royal  as  well  as  a  neigh- 
borly and  hearty  welcome  when  he  arrived  in  the  city  Fri- 
day. 

Southern  Passenger  Train  No.  15  was  late — reaching  the 
station  close  to  the  noon  hour.  A  goodly  company  of  repre- 
sentative citizens  were  ready  to  grasp  the  hand  of  Locke 
Craig  and  speak  their  joy  at  his  home  coming.  There  was  no 
blare  of  trumpets — no  noise  of  drum — but  the  dignity  of  the 
occasion  was  present.  It  was  the  return  of  an  esteemed 
citizen,  who  had  been  away  for  a  time  at  the  call  of  his  State, 
one  who  had  honored  his  community  and  section  with  efficient 
service. 

Surrounded  by  friends,  men  of  varied  stations,  merchants, 
manufacturers,  bankers,  lawyers,  physicians  and  preachers, 
Governor  Craig  and  Mrs.  Craig  were  escorted  to  the  waiting 
car  and  followed  by  the  reception  party  directly  to  the  Ma- 
jestic Theatre  where  the  formal  reception  followed. 

Locke  Craig,  Jr.,  was  the  first  to  start  the  cheering  in  the 
Majestic  Theatre.  Sitting  in  Judge  Phil.  C.  Cocke's  arms,  he 
saw  his  father  on  the  stage,  surrounded  by  members  of  the 
Reception  Committee,  and  called  out  to  him,  and  then  gave 
a  boyish  yell  of  greeting.    The  audience  broke  into  applause. 

The  splendid  tributes  of  the  speakers  were  frequently  in- 
terrupted by  cheering,  and  the  Governor  was  given  a  rousing 
ovation  when  he  rose  to  reply. 

Locke,  Jr.,  did  not  know  that  he  was  to  figure  largely  in 


248  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

the  speechmaking,  but  he  did.  Dr.  Winston  paid  Mrs.  Craig, 
an  eloquent  tribute.  Thomas  J.  Harkins  presented  the  chest 
of  silver  and  the  silver  water  set.  Part  of  this  testimonial 
was  on  the  stage  during  the  exercises. 

When  the  curtain  rose  at  12:30  o'clock,  the  orchestra 
struck  up  "Are  You  From  Dixie?"  and  the  audience  gave  the 
distinguished  guest  a  round  of  enthusiastic  applause.  Judge 
J.  D.  Murphy,  General  Chairman  of  the  Committee  for  the 
Reception  of  the  Governor,  then  delivered  the  following  ad- 
dress : 

"Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Four  years  ago  Governor  Craig 
left  Asheville  to  enter  the  service  of  the  State  as  Chief  Exe- 
cutor, upheld  by  the  prayers,  and  followed  by  the  good  wishes, 
of  the  people  of  Buncombe  County  and  Western  North  Car- 
olina. 

"Today,  he  returns  to  us  to  receive  the  welcome  plaudits, 
'Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant';  you  have  fought  a 
good  fight,  you  have  kept  faith  with  the  people,  you  have 
served  the  State's  best  interests,  you  have  done  justly,  you 
have  loved  mercy,  you  have  walked  humbly  among  your  peo- 
ple; henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  you  a  crown  of  the  love 
and  esteem  of  the  people  of  a  great  Commonwealth  to  whose 
service  you  have  devoted  your  talents  and  energies. 

"May  I  be  permitted  to  say  that  one  of  the  most  widely 
known  public  men  in  this  State,  recently  told  me  in  a  private 
conversation  that  Governor  Craig  was  one  of  the  purest  and 
best  men  he  had  ever  known.  Another  gentleman,  high  in 
official  life  in  this  State,  remarked  in  my  presence  recently 
that  Governor  Craig  was  one  among  the  most  unselfish  men 
he  had  ever  known.  Such  are  the  impressions  left  upon  the 
people  of  the  State  by  our  distinguished  fellow-townsman. 

"Buncombe  County  has  given  this  Commonwealth  three 
great  Governors,  who  have  glorified  her  annals  and  adorned 
her  history,  who  have  presided  over  her  destinies  in  epochal 
and  distinctive  periods— David  Lowry  Swain,  Zebulon  Baird 
Vance,  and  Locke  Craig — men  who  tower  among  men  as  does 
Mount  Mitchell,  Mount  Pisgah  and  Craggy  Mountain,  among 
our  mountain  peaks— men  whose  record  of  achievement  and 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  249 

service  to  the  people  of  the  Commonwealth,  will  ever  shed  a 
gentle  and  beneficent  radiance  to  lighten  the  pathway  of  men 
through  the  coming  time. 

"It  is  now  my  pleasure  to  present  to  you  our  distinguished 
and  scholarly  fellow-townsman,  Dr.  George  T.  Winston,  who 
will  deliver  an  address  of  welcome  to  Governor  Craig  in  be- 
half of  our  people." 

Judge  Murphy  also  read  extracts  from  a  letter  he  had  re- 
ceived from  a  prominent  North  Carolinian  who  paid  a  tribute 
to  the  Ex-Governor  as  an  orator  and  a  public  servant  who  had 
labored  with  brilliant  success  for  the  welfare  of  his  State. 
Dr.  Winston  spoke,  in  substance,  as  follows: 

"To  speak  words  of  welcome  to  you,  Governor  Craig,  is  as 
useless  a  superfluity  as  to  add  perfume  to  the  violet  or  color 
to  the  rose.  Wherever  North  Carolina  is  mentioned,  men  think 
of  you.  The  welcome  of  the  people  of  Asheville  and  Western 
North  Carolina  is  written  in  their  hearts  today  and  is  pro- 
claimed in  their  faces.  If  I  should  tell  you  how  much  we  love 
you,  our  wives  would  be  jealous.  You,  of  noble  heart  and 
brain,  you  who  have  achieved  so  well  for  the  welfare  of  the 
State,  we  welcome  home.  We  welcome  ourselves  to  your 
midst,  instead  of  you  to  our  midst. 

"This  occasion  is  not  only  a  personal  welcome.  Your  cares 
have  been  a  part  of  the  progress  and  development  of  this 
Commonwealth.  Lincoln  said  that  no  man  had  a  right  to 
govern  any  other  man  without  that  man's  consent.  For  four 
years  you  have  governed  North  Carolina  with  the  consent  and 
loyalty  of  2,000,000  people. 

"You  have  introduced  a  new  system  of  government  in 
dealing  with  crime.  You  have  adopted  kindness  instead  of 
force  and  violence  and  in  your  Christmas  remembrance  of  the 
convicts  you  have  set  a  precedent  that  future  Governors  will 
follow.  In  recommending  that  some  of  the  profits  of  the  con- 
victs' labor  should  go  to  the  support  of  their  families  you 
will  be  supported  by  the  people,  whatever  peanut  politicians 
may  say. 

"You  have  helped  to  establish  a  great  National  Forest 
Reserve  here  for  the  people  of  the  United  States  and  you 


250  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

alone  led  the  way  for  the  location  of  a  great  State  Park  in 
the  mountains.  You  have  launched  the  movement  for  the 
building  of  a  monument  on  Mount  Mitchell  that  will  be  worthy 
of  the  sainted  bones  of  Elisha  Mitchell  who  lost  his  life  ex- 
ploring the  peak.  You  have  established  a  State  Highway 
Commission  and  stretched  great  highways  across  the  Blue 
Ridge.    You  have  enriched  rural  life. 

"I  do  not  know  how  many  of  your  good  deeds  were  inspired 
by  your  better  half. 

"When  you  became  Governor,  you  said  to  the  people,  'All 
that  I  have  is  yours.'  We  now  say  to  you,  'All  that  we  have 
is  yours.'    This  is  your  recall  by  referendum  of  your  people." 

Judge  Murphy  then  introduced  Mr.  Harkins,  who  in  the 
name  of  the  people  of  Asheville  presented  the  Governor  with 
an  elaborate  chest  of  silver  and  a  silver  water  set.  Mr.  Har- 
kins said: 

"Governor  Craig:  After  four  years'  devotion  to  the  service 
of  the  people  as  Governor  of  our  Commonwealth,  you  have 
returned  to  live  with  us  again  in  good  old  Asheville,  and  the 
hearts  of  our  people  are  gladdened.  We  rejoice  that  we  shall 
again,  for  many  uninterrupted  years  we  hope,  enjoy  the  priv- 
ilege of  your  daily  associations. 

"Four  years  ago,"  replied  the  Governor,  in  substance,  "I 
was  inaugurated  with  Military  and  State  ceremony.  Of  course 
I  valued  that  demonstration.  And  while  I  have  been  Governor 
I  have  received  many  honors  from  people  from  all  sections, 
at  home  and  elsewhere.  But  no  testimonial  of  esteem,  no 
honor  I  have  received,  has  touched  me  as  has  this  welcome 
from  my  own  people.  Your  friendship  and  trust  means  mil- 
lions of  times  more  to  me  than  all  the  encomiums  and  honors 
bestowed." 


GOVERNOR  CRAIG  had  heretofore  had  an  iron  consti- 
tution, but  his  untiring  labors  for  his  party,  and  for 
the  advancement  of  the  State,  followed  by  the  arduous 
duties  of  the  Governor's  office,  had  drawn  upon  his  reserve 
strength  to  such  an  extent,  that  he  returned  home  an  invalid — 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  251 

wounded  in  battle  for  the  public  weal,  and  accepting  the  pen- 
alty inflicted  as  a  true  soldier  would. 

Soon  the  World  War  swept  the  country  into  its  vortex, 
and  carried  with  the  Colors  bis  three  sons,  Carlyle,  George, 
and  Arthur.  Governor  Craig,  though  eager  to  go  with  them, 
was  only  able  to  urge  them  on,  while  he  himself  gave  inspira- 
tion to  the  parting  hosts  in  words  of  encouragement  and 
cheer. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  no  notes  can  be  found  of  his 
speech  at  the  Auditorium  Mass  Meeting  in  Asheville  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war;  nor  of  his  speech  bidding  farewell  to 
the  local  members  of  the  now  famous  Old  Hickory  Division, 
delivered  from  the  portico  of  the  County  Court  House.  His 
speech  to  the  first  contingent  of  the  National  Army,  later  to 
become  a  part  of  the  Wildcat  Division,  is  taken  from  The 
Asheville  Citizen,  and  follows: 


252  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 


TO  THE  DEPARTING  SOLDIERS 

Speech  Delivered  From  The  Portico  Of  The  Pack  Memorial 
Library,  On  Pack  Square,  Sept.  20th,  1917. 

NOTE:  The  demonstration  on  Pack  Square  that  preceded  the 
departure  to  the  station,  eclipsed  anything  of  the  kind  ever  attempted 
in  Asheville.  Fully  eight  thousand  people  deserted  homes,  business 
and  dinners  to  gather  around  and  pay  a  parting  tribute  to  the  young 
men  who  are  to  "help  make  the  world  skfe  for  democracy."  Every- 
thing passed  off  just  as  it  was  planned,  except  the  crowd  and  the  en- 
thusiasm.    These  surpassed  all  expectations. 


Next  followed  the  principal  address  of  the  afternoon,  de- 
livered by  former  Governor  Locke  Craig,  who  was  introduced 
by  Mr.  Frank  M.  Weaver,  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce.   The  Governor  said,  in  part: 

"This  is  a  day  long  to  be  remembered  in  history — in  our 
local  history — in  universal  history.  It  is  a  day  significant 
with  the  destiny  of  the  world.  On  this  day  throughout  the 
vast  domain  of  the  Republic,  the  strong  and  valiant  youth  of 
America  are  leaving  home  to  constitute  the  grandest  army 
that  ever  marched,  to  fight  for  the  grandest  cause  'ever  pro- 
claimed by  the  trumpet,  or  pleaded  by  the  sword.' 

"You,  my  own  young  friends,  sons  of  my  neighbors,  are 
making  this  day  historic  and  constituting  this  army.  You 
are  no  longer  the  civilian  boys,  but  you  are  the  soldiers  of  the 
Republic. 

"I  congratulate  you  that  in  this  mighty  day  you  are  to 
occupy  the  place  of  honor;  that  you  are  to  carry  the  flag  to 
the  front  in  the  battle  line  that  is  defending  civilization 
against  Goths  and  Huns  and  Mohammedans;  that  you  are  to 
unhorse  the  savage  militarism  that  would  ride  down  and  slay, 
and  overrun  the  earth  that  you  are  to  establish  the  order  in 
which  civilization  may,  with  security,  beat  its  defensive  sword 
into  a  plowshare,  in  which  nations  in  trustful  federation  and 


Lt.  Carlyle  Craig   George  Winston  Craig 

U.S.N. 


m       ■ 


£%~    \m  m 


Locke  Craig  Jr.    Ij.  Arthur  Burgin  Craig 

U.S.N., 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  253 

co-operation  may  develop  and  achieve  in  permanent  peace  with- 
out the  burden  of  armies  and  armaments.  Blessed  are  you  in 
all  generations. 

"From  the  sanctuary  of  every  home,  from  the  altar  of 
every  temple,  whether  it  be  the  grand  cathedral,  or  the  little 
church  in  the  heart  of  the  remotest  mountains,  petitions  will 
constantly  go  up  to  our  Heavenly  Father  for  your  safety  and 
your  welfare.  You  will  never  be  forgotten  by  the  folks  at 
home.  They  will  watch  with  hope  and  faith  and  prayer  for 
your  safe  return.  But  above  that,  we  depend  with  unfaltering 
faith  that  at  the  front  you  will  do  a  soldier's  part,  that  you 
will  remember  the  obligations  to  home,  that  you  are  the  cus- 
todians of  the  honor  of  your  country,  that  you  will  glorify 
this  country  by  the  pure  manhood  of  your  lives,  and  by  the 
courage  that  never  wavers. 

'The  Spartan  mother  delivered  the  shield  to  her  son  going 
to  war  with  the  injunction,  'Return  with  it,  my  son,  or  upon 
it.'  Remembering  this  mother's  command,  the  last  dying  sol- 
dier wrote  upon  his  shield  at  Thermopylae,  'Go  tell  at  Lace- 
demon  that  we  died  in  obedience  to  her  law.'  If  you  should 
fall,  let  it  be  beneath  the  folds  of  the  advancing  flag.  The 
Archangel  will  tell  before  God's  judgment  seat  that  you  died 
in  obedience  to  His  Law. 

"On  this  day,  my  friends,  when  we  dedicate  these  young 
men  to  the  holy  cause  of  this  war,  let  us  dedicate  and  conse- 
crate ourselves  anew,  that  we  may  be  worthy  of  them,  and 
of  their  heroism  and  sacrifice. 

"For  you,  my  young  friends,  for  us  all,  a  mighty  day  has 
dawned,  a  day  of  crisis  and  of  altruistic  awakening. 

"You  are  going  across  the  far  seas,  but  you  will  be  con- 
voyed safely  by  the  battleships  and  cruisers  and  dreadnaughts 
of  the  Republic.  You  will  look  upon  the  vine-clad  hills  of 
heroic  France,  and  of  fair  lands  and  cities  blasted  and  desolate 
by  relentless,  revengeful  war.  Weak  and  oppressed  people, 
starving  women  and  children,  will  stretch  forth  their  hands 
in  gratitude  to  you  in  the  day  of  their  deliverance.  You  will 
see  the  great  captains  of  the  world,  and  the  great  men  of 
the  world.     You  will  march  on  battlefields  immortalized  by 


254  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

Caesar,  Clovis,  Charlemaine  and  Napoleon.  You  will  hear  the 
tramp  of  embattled  hosts  and  the  sounds  of  falling  cities. 
When  bloody  fields  are  won,  you  will  behold  the  broken  and 
retreating  squadrons  of  the  enemies  of  freedom.  And  I  hope 
that  over  the  broken  ramparts  in  the  day  of  triumph,  some 
boy  from  Buncombe  will  carry  the  stars  and  stripes  at  the 
head  of  the  victorious  columns  into  the  City  of  Berlin ! 

"We  pray  for  the  return  of  peace.  '0,  let  the  bugles  sound 
the  truce  of  God  to  the  whole  world  forever.'  May  the  reign 
of  the  Prince  of  Peace  be  restored  to  all  the  kingdoms  of  this 
earth.  But  it  will  not  be  until  the  seven  vials  of  God's  wrath 
shall  consume  iniquity,  and  shall  destroy  all  dynasties  and  in- 
justice of  privilege.  From  the  conflagration  of  this  war  must 
come  a  purified  civilization  with  a  higher  social  order,  that 
shall  guarantee  to  all  mankind  their  inalienable  rights  ac- 
cording to  the  everlasting  Covenant  of  God. 

"When  you  shall  return,  my  young  friends,  in  that  im- 
mortal day  we  will  welcome  you  with  universal  acclaim,  and 
honor  you  and  your  children  as  the  soldiers  of  the  great 
struggle  for  the  liberation  and  for  the  redemption  of  man- 
kind." 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  255 

THE  CASE  OF  THE  RAILWAY  COMPANIES 

VERSUS  STATE  COMMISSIONER 

OF  REVENUE,  ET  AL. 

Argument  By  Hon.  Locke  Craig  Before  The  District  Court 
Of  The  United  States,  January,  1922. 

NOTE:  The  State  won  this  case,  involving  millions  of  dollars  in 
revenue.  Governor  Craig  presented  his  argument  by  brief,  and  his 
forceful  presentation  of  the  case  for  the  defendants,  shows  his  great? 
power  as  an  advocate,  and  his  clear  reasoning  ability. 

May  it  please  the  Court,  I  appreciate  the  honor  and  the 
responsibility  of  my  participation  in  this  great  trial  by  this 
High  Court  of  Equity. 

When  I  consider  the  learning,  the  ability  and  the  experi- 
ence of  the  judges  who  constitute  this  tribunal,  I  approach 
the  discussion  with  embarrassment.  But  I  do  feel  the  pro- 
found conviction  of  the  righteousness  of  our  cause.  I  know 
that  it  will  be  presented  in  eloquence  and  power  by  my  emi- 
nent associates,  and  will  receive  from  the  Court  the  consider- 
ation demanded  by  this  issue,  involving  as  it  does  constitu- 
tional questions,  and  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the 
State. 

The  partisan  zeal  of  ordinary  litigation  is  overshadowed 
here  by  the  universal  desire  for  a  just  judgment.  The 
Plaintiffs  are  the  public  carriers  of  our  traffic,  and  constitute 
the  arteries  of  our  commerce  between  ourselves  and  between 
us  and  the  civilized  world.  The  Defendant  is  Alston  D.  Watts, 
who  represents  in  his  official  capacity  every  man,  woman  and 
child  in  the  State.  Their  collective  will  and  conscience  con- 
stitute the  sovereign  majesty  of  the  State.  And  the  State 
desires,  above  all  other  considerations,  justice  and  equity  for 
all  her  citizens,  corporate  and  individual.  She  realizes  that 
justice  is  the  handmaid  of  security  and  patriotism,  that 
plenty  and  prosperity  follow  in  her  train. 

Resistance  to  taxation    is    not    without    precedent    with 


256  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

English  and  American  people.  It  has  been  the  issue  in  the 
front  line  of  the  defense  and  development  of  their  constitu- 
tional liberty.  The  tyrannical  imposition  of  an  unjust  tax 
cost  Charles  the  First  his  head,  and  George  the  Third  would 
not  profit  by  his  example.  In  our  day,  resistance  by  violence 
has  ceased,  for  in  the  evolution  of  the  English  Law,  our  Court 
of  Equity  is  the  tribunal  before  which  all  grievances  may  be 
redressed  in  this  day  of  peace.  And  the  decrees  of  our  Courts 
of  Equity  have  commanded  the  dutiful  obedience  of  good 
citizens,  for  the  extraordinary  power  of  this  Court  has  from 
time  immemorial  been  continuously  exercised  by  chancellors 
with  a  clear  conception  of  the  processes  and  relations  of  our 
governmental  system,  guided  by  the  precedents  and  the  wis- 
dom of  the  masters  of  English  Jurisprudence.  The  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  in  the  case  of  Irwin  v.  Dixon,  9th 
Howard,  33,  has  termed  this  "a  transcendent  and  extra- 
ordinary power,  and  is  therefore  to  be  used  sparingly,  and 
only  in  a  clear  and  plain  case." 

Shaffer  v.  Carter,  252  U.  S.,  37 ; 
Coulter  v.  Louisville  &  Nashville  R.  R.  Co.,  196 
U.  S.,  599. 

And  in  Cavanaugh  v.  Looney,  240  U.  S.,  453,  the  Supreme 
Court  says  that  the  injunction  should  not  be  granted,  "unless 
in  a  case  reasonably  free  from  doubt,  and  to  prevent  great 
and  irreparable  injury." 

While  it  is  the  duty  of  patriotism  to  resist  taxation  clearly 
unjust,  it  is  equally  the  duty  of  patriotism  to  submit  to  just 
taxation.  We  concede  to  the  Plaintiffs  the  right  to  resist  the 
payment  of  a  tax,  when  strongly  convinced  of  its  injustice, 
but  for  reasons  just  as  compelling  is  it  the  duty  of  the  State 
to  enforce  the  payment  of  all  taxes  that  are  just.  If  the 
Plaintiffs  shall  avoid  any  part  of  the  taxes  laid  upon  them  by 
the  duly  constituted  authorities  of  the  State  in  the  necessary 
administration  of  her  government,  this  additional  burden 
must  be  borne  by  the  people.  For  their  protection,  and  in 
justice  to  them  it  is  imperative  upon  the  State  to  uphold  her 
acts  in  their  defense,  in  equity  and  for  the  common  good. 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  257 

For  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  conviction  has  prevailed  in 
North  Carolina  that  property  was  improperly  assessed  for 
taxation,  and  that  taxes  were  not  levied  in  accord  with  new 
conditions  to  meet  the  obligations  of  an  enlightened  and  ad- 
vancing State. 

The  defects  of  our  tax  system  became  more  pronounced 
and  more  intolerable.  In  1919,  the  General  Assembly,  under 
the  leadership  of  Governor  Bickett  and  statesmen  of  experi- 
ence and  patriotism,  determined  to  reform  the  antiquated  and 
discredited  conditions.  For  this  and  other  noble  service, 
North  Carolina  will  keep  in  affectionate  memory  this  Gov- 
ernor who  devoted  himself  to  the  State  with  a  splendid  con- 
ception of  her  destiny,  and  of  his  high  trust. 

The  Plaintiffs  contend  that  in  the  revaluation  provided  by 
the  General  Assembly  of  1919,  their  property  was  assessed 
for  taxation  at  a  value  that  is  excessive. 

By  this  revaluation  the  value  of  railroad  property  in  the 
State  was  increased  from  about  40  per  cent  to  100  per  cent. 
The  property  of  the  Coast  Line  was  increased  from 
$34,645,345  to  $50,867,800 ;  the  property  of  the  Seaboard  Air 
Line  was  increased  from  $20,191,720  to  $34,768,440 ;  and  the 
property  of  the  Southern  Railway  from  $46,869,942  to 
$96,306,357.  The  Norfolk  &  Southern  applied  to  the  Com- 
missioner of  Revenue  and  secured  a  reduction  of  $4,000,000 
in  its  assessment.  It  seems  to  have  gotten  about  all  it  asked 
from  the  State  authorities  and  yet  it  is  not  at  all  backward 
in  coming  forward  to  ask  for  more.  The  value  of  the  real 
estate  in  this  State  was  increased  fully  200  per  cent.  Prior 
to  the  revaluation,  the  Southern  Railway  Company  and 
$46,000,000  of  the  real  estate  bore  equal  parts  of  the  burden 
of  ad  valorem  taxes.  By  the  revaluation  the  Southern  Rail- 
way property  was  assessed  as  $96,000,000,  and  this  same  real 
estate  at  $140,000,000.  Now,  except  as  modified  slightly  by 
the  horizontal  reductions,  they  bear  the  burden  in  the  ratio 
of  96  to  140.  Yet  the  Southern  Railway  is  resisting.  The 
landowner  is  submitting.  The  ratio  of  the  increase  of  the 
burden  of  taxation  was  much  more  favorable  to  the  other 
railroads  of  the  State  than  to  the  Southern,  and  yet  these 


258  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

other  railroads  are  resisting,  while  the  landowners  are  sub- 
mitting. The  real  estate  in  North  Carolina  was  all  assessed 
on  an  average  by  the  200  per  cent  increase,  and  bears  ac- 
cordingly the  increased  proportion  of  the  burden. 

The  equitable  assessment  between  citizens  depends  on  the 
relative  valuation,  and  this  relative  value  determines  the  por- 
tion of  the  burden  to  be  borne. 

When  the  value  of  railroad  property  for  taxation  was  in- 
creased from  40  per  cent  to  100  per  cent,  and  the  value  of 
real  estate  by  200  per  cent,  I  submit  that  the  railroads  had 
no  right  to  complain  of  excessive  valuation.  As  a  fact,  the 
railroads  paid  less  tax  in  1920  under  the  new  assessment  than 
they  did  in  1919  under  the  old  assessment.  The  Southern 
Railway  paid  $50,958.82  less  under  the  new  than  the  old  as- 
sessment. The  Atlantic  Coast  Line  paid  for  the  year  1919, 
$680,811.89;  for  the  year  1920,  $489,686.79;  that  is,  this 
Plaintiff  paid  nearly  $200,000  less  tax  in  1920  under  the  new 
assessment  than  it  did  in  1919  under  the  old  assessment,  and 
yet  this  Plaintiff  was  paying  this  tax  under  protest,  while 
the  landholders  of  North  Carolina  were  bearing  the  greater 
proportion  of  the  tax  burden  willingly  and  without  a  protest. 
In  the  face  of  commanding  facts  like  these,  how  can  these 
Plaintiffs  allege  that  their  property  was  over-assessed  for 
taxation,  and  how  can  they  justify  themselves  before  the  fair- 
thinking  people  of  North  Carolina,  and  how  can  they  come 
before  this  Court  of  Equity  and  ask  that  the  processes  of  the 
State  Government  be  stopped  by  "the  transcendent  and  extra- 
ordinary power  to  be  used  sparingly  and  only  in  a  clear  and 
plain  case?"    Irwin  v.  Dixon,  supra. 

This  complaint  comes  too  late.  A  decree  to  the  effect  that 
the  assessment  of  railroad  property  is  excessive  and  in- 
equitable involves  the  conclusion  that  for  many  years  North 
Carolina  has  taxed  her  property  by  systematic  and  continued 
injustice,  and  has  done  this  by  the  acquiescense  of  the  rail- 
roads for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  General  Assemblies  have 
biennially  met,  and  Courts  of  Equity  have  always  been  open. 
Not  a  complaint  from  the  Plaintiffs  on  account  of  excessive 
valuation  until  the  year  1921,  when  their  property  has  been 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  259 

increased  from  40  per  cent  to  100  per  cent,  and  the  landed 
property  of  the  State  200  per  cent.  By  this  assessment  and 
revaluation,  the  railroads  were  relieved  of  one-third  of  the 
burden  of  ad  valorem  taxation  compared  with  the  land,  and 
that  proportion  of  the  burden  theretofore  borne  by  them  was 
placed  by  this  re-assessment  upon  the  land. 

They  now  ask  this  Court  to  issue  a  decree  that  would  be 
tantamount  to  a  condemnation  of  the  administration  of  our 
government  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  that  would  set  at 
naught  as  ineffectual  and  unrighteous  the  system  of  our  tax- 
ation carefully  devised  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1919  and 
1921  in  an  earnest  and  an  honest  effort  to  meet  the  just  re- 
quirements of  our  time;  a  decree  which  would  relieve  the 
carriers  from  taxation  which  they  should  bear,  and  place  this 
burden  with  increased  proportion  upon  the  shoulders  of  the 
people;  a  decree  which  would  relatively  decrease  the  taxation 
of  the  railroads,  and  in  the  same  proportion  relatively  increase 
the  tax  upon  the  people. 

If  any  class  of  people  in  this  State  have  the  right  to  com- 
plain and  to  invoke  the  strong  arm  of  a  Court  of  Equity  for 
relief,  the  land  owners  have  that  right.  Their  property  has 
been  increased  three-fold  in  value  for  taxation.  They  have 
borne  their  burden  in  financial  stress  and  in  the  presence  of 
impending  calamity  with  patience  and  patriotism,  and  have 
not  attempted  to  interfere  with  the  processes  of  government. 
There  are  a  half-million  land  owners  in  North  Carolina  that 
have  a  far  better  right  to  complain  of  this  re-assessment  than 
have  the  railroads  in  North  Carolina,  as  the  assessment  now 
stands.  If  they  were  as  swift  to  enjoin  the  collection  of 
taxes  as  the  railroads,  the  government  would  have  to  sus- 
pend— the  courts  would  be  crowded  with  a  half  million  of 
litigants. 

But  it  may  be  contended  that  heretofore  real  estate  has 
been  valued  too  low,  and  has  not  paid  its  pro  rata  share  of 
taxes  as  compared  with  the  railroad;  that  the  revaluation  of 
1920  was  therefore  not  as  great  an  increase  in  accordance 
with  value  as  the  increase  in  the  value  of  railroads. 

In  consideration  of  such  contention,  I  appeal  to  the  higher 


260  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

understanding  of  Your  Honors,  that  comes  of  your  associa- 
tion and  environment,  and  human  sympathy — the  understand- 
ing that  illumines  the  learning  and  the  conscience  of  every 
great  chancellor  and  law  giver.  The  land  of  North  Carolina 
has  been  an  inheritance  sacred  in  tradition  and  rich  in  hope, 
but  not  an  inheritance  of  wealth.  The  farms  of  North  Car- 
olina have  been  tilled  by  a  frugal  and  industrious  people. 
They  have  been  the  homes  of  virtue  and  strength,  with  oppor- 
tunity to  labor  and  to  earn  bread  by  the  sweat  of  the  brow. 

Adam  Smith,  in  his  "Wealth  of  Nations,"  declares  that  the 
first  maxim  of  taxation  is:  "Subjects  of  every  State  ought 
to  contribute  towards  the  support  of  the  government  as  nearly 
as  possible  in  proportion  to  their  respective  abilities;  that  is, 
in  proportion  to  the  revenue  which  they  respectively  enjoy 
under  the  protection  of  the  State." 

The  Department  of  Agriculture,  in  an  estimate  from  the 
consideration  of  160,000  American  farms,  makes  the  state- 
ment that  the  annual  rental  value  of  the  farm  is  3.54  per 
cent,  and  that  does  not  take  into  consideration  the  taxes  that 
are  paid.  I  feel  sure  that  the  annual  net  rent  of  the  farms  of 
North  Carolina  does  not  amount  to  more  than  this  per  cent 
of  their  tax  value.  To  show  the  conditions  under  which  the 
people  of  North  Carolina  live,  and  as  indicating  the  value  of 
their  homes  and  farms,  it  is  stated  by  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  that  only  25  per  cent  of  the  farmers  have  running 
water  in  their  homes.  Really,  they  do  not  have,  as  they 
should  have,  the  advantages  and  conveniences  of  modern  civ- 
ilization. They  earn  for  themselves  no  high  salaries,  and  live 
without  extravagances  and  luxury. 

The  farmers  and  their  families  work  from  childhood  on, 
and  if  the  sons  and  daughters  have  the  benefits  of  a  college 
education,  it  is  generally  by  self-denial  and  sacrifice  at  home. 
This  shows  the  value  of  the  farm  property  of  the  State.  I 
know  that  there  are  some  farms  that  are  an  exception  to  this 
rule,  but  the  farmers  and  their  wives  generally  in  the  State 
live  plain  and  dress  plain  because  they  have  to. 

The  farmer  women  may  spend  more  on  their  backs  than 
is  sometimes  customary  in  fashionable  circles,  but  at  least 
their  overhead  expenses  are  not  so  great! 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  261 

Here  there  are  no  "Rajahs  with  white  parasols  and  ele- 
phants mad  with  pride."  Here  there  is  no  princely  compensa- 
tion for  continuous  labor.  Here  wealth  does  not  accumulate 
and  men  do  not  decay. 

For  fifty  years  the  people  of  North  Carolina  have  been  a 
comparatively  poor  people,  and  the  farms  have  been  compara- 
tively poor  as  money-making  agencies,  but  through  all  the 
years  of  hardship  and  financial  stress,  the  people  have  never 
uttered  a  note  of  disloyalty  to  their  government,  it  mattered 
not  what  political  party  was  in  the  ascendency.  She  has  been 
a  land  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief,  but  we  rejoice 
that  she  is  coming  through  the  travail  of  toil  and  hardship 
into  this  better  day. 

It  may  be  that  taxes  in  North  Carolina  will  be  increased, 
but  the  fear  of  this  increase  does  not  justify  the  Plaintiffs 
before  this  Court.  They  should  be  increased  if  necessary. 
We  have  heretofore  paid  less  taxes  than  any  civilized  country 
on  earth.  Our  government  has  been  good  and  pure.  It  has 
been  too  cheap.  Able  officials  have  been  niggardly  paid  for 
the  best  kind  of  service.  Our  public  institutions  have  been 
supplied  with  a  parsimonious  hand.  But  North  Carolina  is  no 
longer  the  puny  child  that  suckles  the  dry  breast.  We  have 
cleared  new  fields.  The  land  responds  with  increasing  har- 
vests to  the  faith  of  the  sower.  We  build  new  cities  and  en- 
large the  old.  We  are  harnessing  the  cateracts  to  the  dy- 
namos, and  from  the  rivers  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  there 
stream  the  volts  of  infinite  energy  to  illuminate  the  darkness 
and  drive  the  myriad  wheels  of  industry. 

There  was  and  there  is  the  aspiration  surging  in  the  peo- 
ple of  North  Carolina — there  is  the  divine  command  to  the 
conscience  of  North  Carolina  that  this  mighty  industrial  power 
and  progress  shall  be  expressed  in  nobler  opportunities  and 
higher  social  conditions;  in  good  roads  for  the  correlation  of 
the  communities,  the  utilization  of  the  instrumentalities  of 
modern  civilization ;  in  efficient  public  schools  for  the  best  and 
finest  intellectual  development;  and  hospitals  for  the  rescue 
and  for  the  grateful  refuge  of  our  kindred  who  suffer  in  sore 
affliction. 


262  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

The  General  Assembly  has  provided  the  ways  and  means 
in  a  just  consideration  of  the  right  of  all. 

It  is  well  established  by  authority  and  by  reason  that  this 
Court  has  no  power  to  review  or  to  reduce  the  assessment 
made  by  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  State  of  North 
Carolina,  unless  it  appear  to  the  Court  that  such  assessment 
is  in  violation  of  constitutional  right,  or  not  in  accordance 
with  the  directions  of  the  statute,  or  that  the  assessment  is 
inequitable  by  reason  of  a  general  and  systematic  understand- 
ing expressed  or  implied. 

Shaffer  v.  Carter,  supra ; 

Legal  Tender  Cases,  12  Wallace,  457; 

Magoun  v.  111.  Trust  &  Savings  Bk.,  170  U.  S., 

293; 
St.  Louis  R.  R.  Co.  v.  Arkansas,  235  U.  S.,  350; 
L.  &  N.  R.  R.  Co.  v.  Greene,  244  U.  S. 

We  contend  that  the  Plaintiffs  have  not  set  forth  in  their 
complaint  facts  sufficient  to  justify  the  interference  by  this 
Court  on  any  of  the  grounds  above  stated. 

They  have  not  alleged  that  there  was  an  unlawful  combi- 
nation and  design  to  overvalue  their  property. 

They  have  not  alleged  that  there  was  any  general  or  sys- 
tematic understanding,  expressed  or  implied,  to  do  them  any 
injustice. 

They  could  not  make  this  allegation,  for  such  would  be  an 
unwarranted  attack  upon  the  officials  of  the  State  of  North 
Carolina.  After  long  consideration  and  careful  preparation 
they  have  not  made  this  allegation  before  this  Court. 

The  allegation  in  the  complaint  that  the  Plaintiffs  adduced 
before  the  Revenue  Commissioners  facts  "showing  that  said 
valuation  was  in  excess  of  the  true  value,  actual  value  of  the 
property,"  is  not  conclusive.  We  assume  that  the  Plaintiffs 
present  here  and  now  for  the  consideration  and  determination 
of  this  Court,  all  of  the  facts  and  arguments  germane  to  this 
cause. 

Plaintiffs  do  not  complain  of  the  constitutional  provisions 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  263 

of  North  Carolina,  nor  of  the  statutory  provisions  directing 
and  regulating  assessment  for  taxation,  but  they  do  complain 
and  allege  that  the  valuation  of  their  property  is  predicated 
upon  an  income  that  is  excessive,  and  that  in  arriving  at  the 
value  by  this  method,  the  Tax  Commission  did  not  obey  the 
statute.    Hence  a  defective  result. 

The  Southern  Railway  Company  alleges  that  the  Tax  Com- 
mission fixed  its  income  at  $6,117,625;  that  its  income  in 
North  Carolina  is  not  this  much.  This  Plaintiff  admits  that 
this  amount  of  income  was  ascertained  by  deducting  operating 
expenses  and  taxes  in  North  Carolina  from  operating  revenue 
in  North  Carolina.  There  can  be  no  question  that  this  is  the 
proper  and  natural  method  to  ascertain  the  net  revenue  in 
North  Carolina.  It  is  the  method  prescribed  by  statute.  The 
Machinery  Act  of  1921  directs  the  Tax  Commission  to  deter- 
mine the  value  of  Plaintiff's  property  by  due  consideration  of 
the  gross  earnings  as  compared  with  operating  expenses  with 
other  acts  affecting  value. 

Plaintiff  does  not  contend  that  in  this  method  there  is  any 
error  in  the  statement  of  its  operating  revenue  in  North  Car- 
olina, but  does  contend  that  there  is  error  in  the  statement  of 
the  amount  of  its  operating  expenses  in  the  State. 

If  there  was  error  in  the  amount  of  these  operating  ex- 
penses, the  Plaintiff,  Southern  Railway,  as  well  as  the  other 
Railroad  Plaintiffs,  are  responsible  for  this  error.  It  admits, 
states  in  the  complaint,  that  in  its  report  made  in  accordance 
with  law,  it  reported  to  the  State  Tax  Commission  the  amount 
of  operating  expenses  used  by  the  Commission  as  a  factor  in 
ascertaining  its  net  revenue.  The  Tax  Commission  took  the 
figures  from  the  Plaintiff.  The  Plaintiff  admits  now  that  the 
operating  expenses  reported  to  the  Tax  Commission  are  the 
actual  expenses  incurred  in  North  Carolina  in  the  conduct  of 
its  business,  but  says  in  its  complaint  that  the  report  made 
to  the  Tax  Commission  was  erroneous  in  that  the  operating 
expenses  in  North  Carolina  were  understated — that  there  are 
terminal  expenses  outside  of  the  State  which  rightfully  should 
be  charged  to  North  Carolina  in  determining  the  amount  of 
its  net  revenue  in  this  State. 


264  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

We  conceive  the  Plaintiff  to  be  an  "organic  unity,"  with 
correlated  lines  and  terminals.  The  terminal  expenses  of 
transportation  are  a  part  of  the  cost  of  transportation  as 
certainly  as  the  expenses  of  driving  the  locomotive  and  oper- 
ating the  trains. 

The  expense  of  transporting  any  merchandise  should  be 
apportioned  to  each  State  in  or  through  which  such  mer- 
chandise is  transported  in  perfect  equity  if  possible — not  with 
mathematical  precision,  for  that  is  not  feasible,  except  by  the 
elimination  of  elements  of  expense  and  value  which  should  be 
considered  under  the  varied  conditions  and  complicated  prob- 
lems of  transportation.  Especially  should  these  differences  in 
value  of  Plaintiff's  lines  in  this  State  be  considered  where  the 
cost  of  construction  was  immensely  greater  and  where  the 
lines  are  much  more  valuable  on  account  of  the  larger  volume 
of  traffic. 

The  initial  terminal  expenses  in  carrying,  for  example,  a 
carload  of  peaches  from  Atlanta  to  Winston-Salem  is  a  le- 
gitimate part  of  the  cost  of  transportation.  And  so  is  the 
initial  terminal  expense  of  a  carload  of  tobacco  from  Winston- 
Salem  to  Atlanta.  Under  the  present  method  of  allocation 
which  has  been  used  by  the  Plaintiff,  and  is  still  in  use,  the 
former  expense  is  charged  to  Georgia,  and  all  the  latter  ex- 
pense to  North  Carolina.  This  method  we  must  conclude 
from  the  complaint  is  applied  to  the  transportation  of  all  mer- 
chandise. That  is,  the  terminal  expenses  are  charged  to  the 
State  in  which  they  actually  occur. 

Now,  assuming,  as  stated  in  the  complaint  of  the  Southern 
Railway  Company,  page  19,  "  (a)  that  the  traffic  which  moves 
through  the  State  of  North  Carolina  greatly  exceeds  the 
traffic  originating  in  or  destined  to  North  Carolina,"  and, 
"(b)  that  the  terminal  expenses  on  traffic  originating  or  des- 
tined to  North  Carolina  are  very  much  less  than  those  with- 
out the  State,"  it  does  not  follow  from  this  allegation  that 
North  Carolina  escapes  its  equitable  proportion  of  terminal 
expenses.  The  Plaintiff  does  not  state  the  amount  of  ter- 
minal expenses  incurred  in  North  Carolina  and  in  other  States, 
and  does  not  show  to  the  Court  the  proportion  between  the 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  265 

North  Carolina  terminal  expenses  and  traffic  in  North  Car- 
olina. It  may  be  impossible  to  do  this  on  account  of  the  many- 
complications. 

The  traffic  originating  in  North  Carolina,  as  alleged  in 
this  paragraph,  is  certainly  less  than  the  traffic  originating 
in  all  the  other  States  served  by  the  Plaintiff,  and  therefore 
its  terminal  expenses  are  less  than  all  other  terminal  expenses 
as  alleged  in  the  complaint.  The  same  is  true  of  the  traffic 
destined  to  North  Carolina,  or  passing  through,  and  North 
Carolina  is  charged  with  no  such  expenses  on  this  larger 
amount  of  traffic,  and  of  course  should  not  be  charged  with 
any  such  expense. 

"While  it  may  be  true  that  under  such  a  plan  so  employed 
the  result  is  a  showing  that  the  ratio  of  operating  expenses  to 
operating  revenues  in  North  Carolina  is  less  than  that  of  the 
entire  system,"  as  alleged  in  complaint,  we  deny  that  this 
ratio  is  less  than  it  justly  and  equitably  should  be.  There  are 
no  facts  set  forth  in  the  complaint  that  logically  contravert 
this  position. 

The  Plaintiff  suggests,  on  page  20,  a  method  by  which  to 
arrive  at  its  actual  operating  expenses  and  money  value  in 
North  Carolina.  It  suggests  the  capitalization  of  the  net 
revenue  of  the  whole  system  and  the  apportionment  of  a  part 
of  this  value  to  North  Carolina  on  a  mileage  basis.  That  would 
be  manifestly  unjust,  for  that  would  assume  that  each  and 
every  mile  of  all  the  lines  of  the  Plaintiff  has  identically  the 
same  value.  This  conclusion,  we  assume  the  Court  will  not 
entertain  in  view  of  the  expensive  construction  and  larger 
traffic  in  North  Carolina. 

The  Plaintiff  admits,  on  page  20,  that  on  a  gross  earnings 
basis,  its  property  is  worth  $78,004,769,  and  on  a  mileage 
basis  it  is  worth  $71,267,994.  These  figures  themselves  show 
the  greater  importance  of  the  Plaintiff's  North  Carolina 
property  and  its  greater  value. 

The  Plaintiff's  other  suggestion  as  a  method  by  which  to 
ascertain  its  total  value  in  the  State  is  by  the  capitalization 
of  its  total  net  revenue  in  all  of  the  States  combined,  and 
apportion  to  North  Carolina  its  pro  rata  part  of  this  greater 


266  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

total  value  on  a  gross  earnings  basis.  The  injustice  of  this 
suggestion  is  as  manifest  as  the  other  suggestion.  It  elimi- 
nates from  the  problem  the  more  economic  handling  of  large 
volumes  of  traffic,  and  the  expensive  construction  and  import- 
ance of  the  lines  through  Piedmont  and  Western  North  Car- 
olina. 

The  Plaintiff,  Southern  Railway  Company,  shows  in  its 
complaint  that  North  Carolina  furnishes  for  transportation 
more  merchandise — more  than  its  proportion  of  mileage.  On 
the  latter  suggestion  the  value  in  North  Carolina  would  be  as 
above  stated,  greater  on  gross  earnings  than  on  mileage  basis, 
showing  a  much  larger  value  on  gross  earnings  basis  in  North 
Carolina. 

On  the  mileage  basis  by  the  method  suggested  by  the 
Plaintiff,  Southern  Railway  Company,  at  6  per  cent  its  total 
property  in  North  Carolina,  tangible  and  intangible,  rolling 
stock,  and  all,  should  be  assessed  at  $71,267,994  or  $50,863  a 
mile,  and  if  we  consider  the  double  tracks,  it  would  be  as- 
sessed at  $47,300  a  mile.  On  the  gross  earnings  basis,  it 
would  be  assessed  at  something  more  than  $50,000  per  mile. 
Neither  of  these  assessments  would  accord  with  the  value  of 
the  Plaintiff's  property.  They  would  not  be  just  to  the  peo- 
ple of  North  Carolina,  for  it  is  known  and  recognized  that  the 
Plaintiff's  property,  tangible  and  intangible,  with  rolling 
stock,  is  far  in  excess  of  any  such  value,  and  that  its  replace- 
ment would  cost  several  times  that  amount. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  traffic  originating  in  North  Car- 
olina is  of  such  a  kind  as  not  to  require  the  ordinary  initial 
expense;  for  example,  lumber  for  the  eastern  markets,  wood 
pulp,  tobacco,  furniture  carried  in  large  quantities  by  the  car- 
load, and  by  the  trainload  to  eastern  markets.  These  com- 
modities are  loaded  by  the  shipper  without  any  expense  to 
the  Plaintiff.  North  Carolina  is  credited  with  comparatively 
a  small  per  cent  of  the  revenue  from  these  vast  shipments,  as 
in  many  instances  they  are  hauled  over  short  distances  within 
this  State  into  and  through  other  States. 

Considering  the  unprecedented  growth  and  development 
of  the  State,  her  vast  and  varied  industries  contributing  to  the 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  267 

lines  of  the  Plaintiff,  her  increase  in  the  products  of  the  field 
and  factory,  the  number  and  commercial  importance  of  her 
many  thriving  cities  and  towns,  it  cannot  be  that  with  equity, 
she  must  bear  not  only  all  of  her  own  terminal  expenses  of 
transportation,  but  must  contribute  to  the  terminal  expenses 
of  other  States  in  which,  as  Plaintiff  shows  in  its  complaint, 
the  volume  of  traffic  is  less  and  necessarily  entailing  larger 
expense  in  the  initial  handling  thereof. 

The  method  adopted  by  the  Tax  Commission  to  ascertain 
the  net  revenue  of  the  Plaintiff  is  the  natural  method,  the 
method  adopted  and  used  by  the  Plaintiff,  when  by  the  law 
it  was  required  to  furnish  the  Tax  Commission  a  statement  of 
its  gross  revenue  in  this  State,  its  operating  expenses  and  its 
net  revenue.  The  Plaintiff  itself  stated  its  own  net  revenue 
to  the  Tax  Commission. 

For  the  first  time  the  Plaintiffs  complain  of  their  own 
methods.  They  offer  and  can  offer  no  substitute  as  fair  as 
this  method,  established,  approved  by  reason,  and  sanctioned 
by  custom. 

The  Plaintiffs,  Southern  Railway  and  Atlantic  Coast  Line, 
object  to  the  capitalization  of  their  values  at  6  per  cent  and 
contend  that  a  just  per  cent  by  which  to  arrive  at  their  values 
should  be  8  per  cent. 

This  is  rather  an  astonishing  contention  in  North  Car- 
olina, where  from  time  immemorial,  the  legal  rate  of  interest 
allowed  is  6  per  cent,  and  where  in  accordance  with  our  ex- 
perience and  observation,  the  great  majority  of  investors  are 
fortunate  if  they  can  realize  this  6  per  cent  clear  of  taxes,  as 
has  been  credited  to  these  companies. 

We  have  seen  that  the  farmers  realize  a  rental  of  3.54  per 
cent  and  must  pay  the  tax  beside. 

If  the  Tax  Commission  adopted  the  6  per  cent  in  consider- 
ing and  estimating  the  value  of  these  carriers,  the  judgment 
of  the  Tax  Commission  is  final  and  cannot  be  reviewed.  This 
point  is  expressly  decided  in  L.  &  N.  Railroad  Company  v. 
Greene,  244  U.  S.,  522. 

In  fixing  the  taxable  value  of  the  Plaintiffs,  it  was  the  duty 
of  the  Tax  Commission  to  consider  the  market  value  of  their 


268  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

stocks  and  bonds.  But  in  fairness  and  equity,  it  was  not  the 
duty  of  the  Tax  Commission  to  fix  the  taxable  value  of  these 
carriers  in  accordance  with  the  stock  and  bond  method,  when 
their  securities  were  at  the  lowest  on  account  of  unprece- 
dented depreciation  in  the  value  of  securities. 

On  page  23,  paragraph  6,  of  the  complaint,  the  Plaintiff, 
Southern  Railway  Company,  contends  that  in  accordance  with 
the  figures  found  by  the  Bureau  of  Valuation  of  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission,  the  property  of  the  company  should 
have  been  valued  at  $59,904,438,  and  the  company  avers  this 
"to  be  the  limit  of  true  value  in  North  Carolina  for  ad  valorem 
taxing  purposes,  beyond  which  the  Plaintiff's  property  should 
not  be  assessed."  This  Plaintiff  seems  to  have  forgotten  that 
this  amount  does  not  include  the  value  of  the  franchise,  and 
this  amount  was  arrived  at  by  the  Bureau  of  Valuation  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  from  values  as  of  June  30, 
1914.  Since  then  we  know  that  all  kinds  of  construction,  the 
building  of  railroads  and  houses,  have  about  doubled  in  cost. 

The  Southern  Railway  Company  in  its  report  to  its  stock- 
holders for  the  year  ending  December  31,  1919,  stated  that 
the  laying  of  a  double  track  on  a  revised  grade  between  Wash- 
ington and  Atlanta  that  was  expected  to  cost  $34,838,000, 
actually  cost  $52,134,000,  on  account  of  advancement  in  prices. 
This  was  the  cost  of  the  construction  of  625  miles  of  second 
track,  the  cost  of  laying  which  is  much  less  than  the  cost  of 
first  track.  The  cost  of  laying  this  second  line  track  along- 
side of  the  track  already  constructed  cost  the  Plaintiff, 
Southern  Railway  Company,  in  1919,  $82,884  per  mile,  and 
yet  the  Plaintiff,  Southern  Railway  Company,  is  contending 
before  the  Court  that  on  the  valuation  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  the  limit  of  valuation  of  its  track  in  North 
Carolina,  considering  first  and  second  lines,  should  be  $36,504 
per  mile. 

About  the  time  that  the  State  was  valuing  the  property 
of  the  Southern  Railway  Company  at  $96,306,000,  this  com- 
pany appeared  before  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
in  a  petition  to  the  Commission  to  allow  an  increase  of  freight 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  269 

and  passenger  rates.  In  this  showing  before  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  at  this  very  time  when  the  State 
valued  its  property,  the  Southern  Railway  Company  contended 
that  from  its  investment  account,  its  property  should  be 
valued  at  $111,308,323,  and  it  contended  that  the  actual  value 
of  its  property  in  North  Carolina  was  in  excess  of  this  amount, 
and  should  be  estimated  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission in  excess  of  this  amount  when  the  Commission  should 
fix  a  tariff  for  freight  and  passenger  traffic. 

He  who  comes  into  a  Court  of  Equity,  must  come  with 
clean  hands,  with  a  consistent  plea.  He  cannot  be  allowed  to 
contradict  himself  to  his  own  advantage.  The  location  of  the 
Court  cannot  change  the  lav/  and  the  facts.  He  who  asks 
equity,  must  do  equity  in  Washington  as  well  as  in  North 
Carolina.  With  what  measure  he  metes  to  himself  in  Wash- 
ington, it  should  be  measured  to  him  again  in  North  Car- 
olina. 

There  was  a  tribunal  in  the  City  of  Washington  to  con- 
sider the  value  of  the  Plaintiff's  property  for  the  purpose  of 
fixing  the  tariff  which  should  be  allowed  to  the  Plaintiff,  upon 
the  people  of  North  Carolina,  just  as  the  State  Tax  Commis- 
sion in  Raleigh,  and  just  as  this  Court  must  consider  the  value 
of  the  Plaintiff's  property  as  determined  by  the  tariff  that  it 
can  levy  upon  the  people  of  North  Carolina,  and  the  tariff  that 
the  people  of  North  Carolina  can  levy  upon  it.  It  does  not 
signify  that  these  tribunals  do  not  sit  in  the  same  building, 
and  in  the  same  city.  They  are  both  constituted — that  court 
and  this  high  court — for  one  ultimate  purpose,  and  that  is,  to 
do  justice  between  the  carriers  and  the  people ;  and  when  this 
Plaintiff  was  asking  and  receiving  from  that  court  in  Wash- 
ington the  power  to  levy  a  tariff  predicated  on  a  value  of 
$111,000,000,  it  is  estopped  in  good  conscience  in  this  Court 
to  say  that  the  limit  of  value  in  this  State  is  $59,904,438. 

Whatsoever  things  you  would  that  men  should  do  to  you, 
do  you  even  so  to  them. 

This  is  no  arbitrary  law,  but  the  expression  of  the  law 
that  pervades  all  nature,  all  life,  the  law  of  order  and  civil- 
ization, of  progress  and  of  liberty ;  the  law  of  our  being  and 


270  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

all  our  social  relations,  and  growth  and  strength.  It  was  an- 
nounced by  the  Highest  Chancellor  from  the  Highest  Court 
of  Equity.  I  invoke  that  law  when  Your  Honors  shall  pass 
judgment  between  the  Plaintiff,  Southern  Railway  Company, 
and  the  people  of  North  Carolina. 

In  accordance  with  this  contention  of  the  Plaintiff  before 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  it  was  allowed  the 
power  to  exact  from  the  people  of  North  Carolina  a  25  per 
cent  increase  in  freight  rates,  and  20  per  cent  increase  in  pas- 
senger rates. 

If  this  Court  should  adopt  the  valuation  which  the  Plaintiff, 
Southern  Railway  Company,  contends  for,  and  the  method  sug- 
gested by  the  company,  the  value  of  the  company's  property 
on  a  basis  of  6  per  cent  would  be  $43,429  per  mile.  On  a  basis 
of  gross  earnings  it  would  be  $47,534  per  mile.  This,  against 
the  Company's  own  statement  that  its  secondary  track  in 
1919  cost  more  than  $82,000  a  mile,  and  against  its  solemn 
statement  before  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  that 
its  property  in  North  Carolina  was  worth  more  than 
$111,000,000. 

How  can  it  expect  this  Court  to  exercise  its  "transcendent 
and  extraordinary  power,  to  be  used  sparingly  and  only  in  a 
clear  and  plain  case,"  in  the  face  of  these  glaring  contradic- 
tions ? 

But  the  Company  contends  that  if  the  capitalization 
method  is  to  be  used  it  should  be  on  a  basis  of  8  per  cent. 
On  this  basis,  considering  secondary  tracks  in  North  Carolina 
the  Plaintiff's  property  in  this  State  would  be  valued  at 
$53,460,995  or  $32,578  a  mile. 

If  this  process  of  shrinkage  in  value  continue,  the  stern 
metaphor  of  the  camel  and  the  needle's  eye  will  not  debar  the 
Southern  Railway  from  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

The  Plaintiffs  all,  I  believe,  complain  that  the  horizontal 
reduction  made  in  the  value  of  lands  in  North  Carolina  by 
the  Board  of  Review,  should  be  applied  to  their  property  to 
effect  the  uniform  taxation  provided  for  by  the  Constitution. 
But  we  respectfully  submit  that  the  landed  property  of  North 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  271 

Carolina  and  the  transportation  property  of  North  Carolina 
are  not  at  all  similar  in  their  functions,  and  that  their  value 
is  not  affected  by  the  same  causes  and  that  the  increase  or 
decrease  in  the  value  of  one  does  not  logically  necessitate  the 
increase  or  decrease  of  the  value  of  the  other. 

In  1919  and  1920  farm  products  were  abnormally  high — 
higher  than  ever  before  in  the  history  of  the  country.  When 
they  fell  in  value,  "a  priori,"  land  fell  in  value.  Land  is 
worth  what  it  will  produce.  Land  that  produces  corn  worth 
$2.00  a  bushel,  cotton  worth  40  cents  a  pound,  tobacco  worth 
$1.00  a  pound,  is  of  more  value  than  land  that  produces  these 
staples  today,  worth  one-third  of  the  former  market  price. 
The  decrease  in  the  value  of  land  is  much  more  in  proportion 
than  the  decrease  in  the  valae  of  its  products,  for  the  higher 
value  of  the  products  carries  the  profits.  On  the  same  reason- 
ing the  value  of  a  Transportation  Company  is  determined  not 
by  the  value  of  the  merchandise  that  it  carries,  but  by  the 
rate  of  carriage.  It  is  worth  today  as  much  to  the  Plaintiffs 
and  more  to  carry  a  bale  of  cotton  worth  $80.00  than  it  was 
in  1919  to  carry  a  bale  of  cotton  worth  $160.00.  While  cotton 
has  fallen  in  value,  the  freight  rate  has  been  increased  25  per 
cent. 

When  the  land  fell  in  value  "non  sequitur"  that  the  value 
of  railroad  property  fell.  The  causes  that  brought  down  the 
value  of  the  farm  did  not  apply  to  the  railroad. 

And  there  are  no  such  fluctuations  in  transportation  tariffs 
as  there  are  in  the  market  prices  of  farm  products.  We  do 
not  know  what  the  price  of  cotton  will  be  next  year,  not  even 
what  it  will  be  tomorrow,  but  we  know  with  reasonable  cer- 
tainty what  freight  rates  will  be.  And  in  the  future,  as  in 
the  past,  tribunals  established  by  law  will  maintain  these 
rates  for  the  just  remuneration  of  the  common  carriers  of  the 
country. 

It  was  eminently  just  and  fair  that  the  assessment  of  the 
farms  should  be  reduced  in  1921,  and  it  would  be  equally 
unjust  and  unfair  to  reduce  the  railroad  property  in  1921. 

If  there  be  one  stable  value  in  all  the  country,  it  is  the 
value  of  the  property  of  the  common  carriers,  upheld  and  pro- 


272  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

vided  for  by  administrative  power,  and  by  the  all-pervasive 
and  supreme  law  of  commerce.  They  are  sustained  by  the 
law  that  correlates  commerce  and  supplies  with  the  elements 
of  life  all  portions  of  civilization. 

Until  the  structure  of  our  society  changes,  the  products  of 
industry  will  flow  along  the  lines  of  the  Plaintiffs  in  volume 
increasing  with  the  enlightened  energy  of  mankind — as  in- 
evitably as  the  rivers  carry  their  waters  to  the  sea — in  obe- 
dience to  that  law  of  human  association  and  human  progress, 
in  its  benevolence  and  power  like  unto  the  law  that  was  re- 
vealed in  the  Apocalypse  of  Newton,  the  law  that  orders  the 
winds  and  the  tides,  the  law  that  binds  the  sweet  influences 
of  Pleiades  and  guides  Arcturus  and  his  sons. 

The  Plaintiffs  further  contend  that  the  franchise  or  priv- 
ilege tax  imposed  by  the  State  is  in  truth  an  ad  valorem  tax, 
in  violation  of  Section  3,  Article  V,  of  the  Constitution,  and 
of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

It  is  clear,  in  consideration  of  the  history  of  the  Revenue 
Act  of  1921,  that  Sub-Section  (3y2)  of  Section  82  does  not 
apply  to  the  railroads;  that  Sub-Section  (6V2)  of  Section  82 
levied  and  intended  to  levy  the  tax  of  one-tenth  of  one  per 
cent  on  the  assessed  value  of  railroad  property  in  North  Car- 
olina as  a  privilege  for  doing  an  interstate  commerce  business. 

It  is  apparent  that  Sub-Section  (3V2)  fixing  the  measure 
of  the  privilege  tax  of  certain  corporations  by  one-half  of  the 
capital  stock,  is  dealing  with  corporations  other  than  railroad 
corporations.  The  whole  tenor  of  this  Sub-Section  shows  this. 
Sub-Section  (31/2)  was  in  the  Act  of  1920,  just  as  it  is  now 
in  the  Act  of  1921.  Sub-Section  (6i/2)  in  the  Act  of  1920  was 
numbered  78.  It  was  brought  forward  and  numbered  (6V2) 
and  made  a  Sub-Section  of  Section  82,  while  Sub-Section  (8V2) 
was  allowed  to  remain  just  as  it  was  in  1920. 

Instead  of  measuring  this  privilege  tax  by  gross  earnings 
per  mile,  as  heretofore,  the  new  measurement  in  accordance 
with  the  value  of  the  property  in  the  State  was  adopted. 

We  must  conclude  that  the  Legislature  intended  to  levy 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  273 

this  privilege  tax  on  the  business  of  intrastate  commerce,  and 
not  on  interstate  commerce.  To  assume  that  the  tax  was 
levied  on  interstate  commerce  would  assume  that  the  General 
Assembly  passed  an  unconstitutional  law,  when  the  history 
of  this  legislation  shows,  and  the  legal  inference  is,  that  it 
passed  a  constitutional  law  in  accordance  with  its  power. 

It  was  certainly  within  the  power  of  the  Legislature  to 
measure  this  privilege  tax  on  intrastate  commerce  by  the 
value  of  all  the  property  of  the  carrier  in  this  State  engaged 
in  intrastate  commerce. 

This  contention  is  expressly  decided  in  favor  of  the  State 
in  the  case  of  St.  Louis,  etc.,  Railway  Company  v.  Arkansas, 
235  U.  S.,  page  350. 

In  this  Arkansas  case,  the  privilege  tax  was  based  "solely 
upon  the  portion  of  outstanding  capital  stock  of  the  corpora- 
tion represented  by  property  owned  and  used  in  business 
transacted  in  this  State." 

In  the  brief  of  counsel  for  the  State  of  Arkansas,  there  is 
cited  a  long  list  of  authorities  sustaining  this  position. 

And  in  United  States  Glue  Company  v.  Oak  Creek,  247 
U.  S.,  page  326,  Mr.  Justice  Pitney,  speaking  for  the  Court, 
says: 

"But  property  in  a  State  belonging  to  a  corporation, 
whether  foreign  or  domestic,  engaged  in  foreign  or  interstate 
commerce,  may  be  taxed,  or  a  tax  may  be  imposed  on  the 
corporation  on  account  of  its  property  within  the  State,  and 
may  take  the  form  of  a  tax  for  the  privilege  of  exercising  its 
franchise  within  the  State  if  the  ascertainment  of  the  amount 
is  made  dependent  in  fact  on  the  value  of  its  property  situated 
within  the  State  (the  exaction  therefrom  not  being  susceptible 
of  exceeding  the  sum  which  might  be  leviable  directly 
thereon)  and  if  payment  be  not  made  a  condition  precedent 
to  the  right  to  carry  on  business,  but  its  enforcement  left  to 
the  ordinary  means  devised  for  the  collection  of  taxes." 

The  statute  of  North  Carolina,  82  (6V2)  levies  a  privilege 
tax  on  railroads  and  measures  that  tax  by  the  value  of  rail- 


274  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

road  property  within  the  State.  This  is  almost  identical  with 
the  statute  of  the  State  of  Arkansas,,  and  passed  upon  by  the 
Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of  St.  Louis,  etc.,  Railway  Company 
v.  Arkansas,  supra.  The  Supreme  Court  in  that  case  refused 
to  hold  the  Arkansas  statute  unconstitutional  on  the  ground 
that  it  could  not  assume  that  the  Legislature  of  Arkansas  in- 
tended in  any  way  to  levy  a  tax  on  interstate  commerce,  as 
that  would  be  beyond  the  power  of  the  Legislature.  But  the 
Supreme  Court,  took  the  view  that  the  Legislature  of  Ar- 
kansas acted  within  its  rights,  and  levied  a  privilege  tax  on 
the  intrastate  traffic.  In  our  case  there  is  no  disposition,  no 
contention,  to  levy  any  tax  upon  interstate  commerce,  but  on 
intrastate  commerce.  It  is  practically  the  same  statute  that 
has  been  in  effect  for  many  years.  To  hold  that  our  statute 
is  unconstitutional  would  be  in  conflict  with  the  judgment  of 
the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Arkansas  case ;  in  the  Glue  Company 
case ;  in  Maine  v.  Grand  Trunk  Railway,  142  U.  S.,  217 ;  United 
States  Express  Company  v.  Minnesota,  223  U.  S.,  347;  and 
many  other  cases  cited  in  these  opinions. 

In  Postal  Telegraph  Cable  Company  v.  Adams,  155  U.  S., 
688,  the  Court  says  a  tax  is  not  obnoxious  to  the  commerce 
clause  merely  because  imposed  upon  property  used  in  inter- 
state commerce,  even  if  it  takes  the  form  of  a  tax  for  the 
privilege  of  exercising  its  franchise  within  the  State. 

When  the  State  Tax  Commission,  in  obedience  to  the  law, 
valued  for  taxation  the  property  of  the  Plaintiffs,  we  must 
assume  that  the  Commission  acted  in  accordance  with  the 
statute,  and  performed  its  duty  according  to  law,  until  the 
contrary  be  shown  to  the  Court.  This  point  is  decided  in 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  v.  Greene,  244  U.  S.,  556. 

We  must  conclude  according  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  in  this  last  cited  case,  unless  the  contrary  ap- 
pear, that  the  Tax  Commission  considered  "the  actual  cost 
of  replacing  the  property  with  a  just  allowance  for  deprecia- 
tion on  rolling  stock,  and  also  of  other  conditions  to  be  con- 
sidered in  case  of  private  property." 

We  must  conclude,  unless  the  contrary  be  shown  to  the 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  275 

Court,  that  the  Tax  Commission  obeyed  the  law  which  pre- 
scribes that  it  "shall  then  assess  the  value  of  the  franchise, 
which  shall  be  determined  by  due  consideration  of  the  gross 
earnings  as  compared  with  the  operating  expenses,  and  par- 
ticularly by  consideration  of  the  value  placed  upon  the  whole 
property  by  the  public."  And  we  must  conclude  that,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  proviso  of  Section  65  of  the  Machinery 
Act,  the  Tax  Commission,  in  valuing  the  fixed  property  in 
this  State,  gave  due  consideration  to  the  character  of  the 
roadbed  and  fixed  equipment,  number  of  miles  of  double  track, 
the  amount  of  gross  and  net  earnings  per  mile  of  road  in  this 
State,  and  any  other  factor  which  would  give  greater  or  less 
value  per  mile  of  road  in  this  State  than  the  average  value 
for  the  entire  system. 

But  the  Plaintiff,  Southern  Railway  Company,  complains 
that  neither  the  State  Tax  Commission,  nor  the  Revenue 
Commissioner,  advised  it  as  to  the  amount  at  which  its 
tangible  property  was  assessed,  and  the  amount  at  which  its 
intangible  property  was  assessed.  But  on  page  25  of  its  com- 
plaint, there  is  the  statement :  "The  Commissioner  of  Revenue, 
the  Plaintiff  is  advised,  believes,  and  hence  states,  assessed  as 
the  total  value  of  Plaintiff's  property  the  sum  of  $78,778,169, 
and  to  this  he  added  the  intangible  or  franchise  value,  the 
sum  of  $17,528,188,  making  a  total  assessment  for  ad  valorem 
purposes  of  $96,306,357."  The  statute  does  not  require  that 
the  Tax  Commission  should  notify  the  Plaintiffs  of  these  dif- 
ferent values  and  we  cannot  see  how  this  failure,  if  there 
was  any  failure,  to  notify  the  Plaintiffs  should  affect  them  in 
any  way.  The  tangible  and  the  intangible  are  both  assessed 
in  the  same  way,  and  taxed  at  the  same  rate.  The  proviso 
added  to  Section  65  of  the  Machinery  Act  makes  it  the  duty 
of  that  tribunal,  assessing  the  property  of  the  Plaintiff,  to 
take  all  elements  into  consideration  in  assessing  both  the 
tangible  and  intangible  property. 

If  the  Tax  Commission  assessed  the  whole  property  as 
provided  in  Section  64,  and  then  deducted  therefrom  the  value 
of  the  physical  property,  we  see  no  benefit  that  this  process 


276  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

conferred  upon  the  Plaintiffs,  for  Section  64  further  provides 
that  the  Tax  Commission  shall  add  together  these  two  values 
to  ascertain  the  aggregate  of  the  tangible  and  intangible 
property — the  same  result  that  it  started  with.  We  fail  to 
see  how  this  arithmetical  exercise  of  subtraction  and  addition 
should  give  the  Plaintiff  any  right  of  equitable  relief. 

It  is  not  alleged  in  these  complaints,  that  there  was  any 
design  on  the  part  of  the  Tax  Commission  to  defraud  the 
Plaintiffs.  It  is  not  alleged  that  there  was  any  understand- 
ing expressed  or  implied  between  the  different  taxing  tri- 
bunals by  which  the  property  of  the  Plaintiffs  should  be  over- 
estimated, and  the  property  of  the  other  taxbearers  under- 
estimated. 

There  was  an  honest  and  an  earnest  effort  by  the  Legisla- 
ture and  by  the  taxing  authorities,  to  revalue  the  property  of 
North  Carolina  in  justice  to  all,  in  fairness  to  all,  and  in  ac- 
cordance with  our  obligations  as  a  people  and  as  a  State.  The 
Tax  Commission  obeyed  in  all  things  the  statute,  considered 
the  property  of  Plaintiffs  by  all  methods  prescribed  by  law, 
pronounced  an  honest  judgment.  That  judgment  was  reviewed 
and  approved  by  the  Commissioner  of  Revenue. 

But,  in  addition  to  all  this,  the  General  Assembly  of  1919 
did  not  direct  nor  empower  the  State  Tax  Commission,  nor 
the  taxing  authorities  to  assess  for  taxation  the  railroad 
property  and  other  property  of  the  State,  but  this  General 
Assembly  did  direct  and  empower  the  State  Tax  Commission 
and  the  taxing  authorities  to  re-assess  all  of  the  property  of 
North  Carolina  at  its  true  value,  and  submit  those  values  to 
the  Special  Session  of  the  General  Assembly  called  for  1920. 
After  the  greatest  publicity,  and  after  long  and  careful  con- 
sideration by  all  of  the  taxing  authorities  in  North  Carolina, 
the  railroad  property  and  other  property  was  revalued  as  set 
forth  in  the  complaints.  The  General  Assembly  of  1920  met, 
and  although  it  was  known  by  probably  every  intelligent 
citizen  of  the  State,  that  these  tax  values  would  be  passed 
upon  by  this  Assembly,  the  assessment  recommended  by  the 
State  Tax  Commission  and  other  taxing  authorities  of  the 
State  was  approved  and  ratified  by  the  General  Assembly,  and 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  277 

the  General  Assembly  by  a  solemn  statute  enacted  that  these 
values  should  be  the  basis  of  taxation  for  the  State  for  the 
succeeding  four  years.  I  do  not  believe  that  there  was  a  dis- 
senting vote.  Certainly  these  Plaintiffs  did  not  protest  nor 
object. 

This  Court  is  now  asked  to  strike  down  the  judgment  of 
the  State  Tax  Commission  and  by  its  decree  to  annul  an  Act 
of  the  General  Assembly. 

Let  us  remember  that  just  taxation  depends  upon  the 
equitable  and  relative  value  placed  upon  all  the  property  of 
the  State.  We  have  seen  how,  by  the  large  increase  in  the 
value  of  real  estate,  the  proportion  of  the  burden  borne  by 
the  railroads  has  been  decreased,  and  the  proportion  of  the 
burden  borne  by  the  real  estate  has  been  increased,  and  this 
is  so  notwithstanding  the  horizontal  reduction  of  the  real 
estate.  The  horizontal  reductions  in  the  sixty-seven  counties 
does  not  seriously  affect  the  proportion.  These  reductions 
did  not  average  over  20  per  cent  at  most  while  the  value  of 
all  land  had  been  increased  20  per  cent.  The  reductions  were 
greater  in  the  territory  of  the  Coast  Line  and  the  value  of 
this  Plaintiff's  property  was  increased  only  40  per  cent. 

The  fear  that  hereafter  the  railroads  may  pay  more  taxes 
than  they  have  heretofore  paid,  cannot  justify  this  proceed- 
ing any  more  than  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  landowners 
would  be  justified  to  resist  their  taxes  because  of  an  increase. 
If  the  State  needs  the  revenue,  the  wealth  of  the  State  is 
sufficient,  and  the  legitimate  purposes  of  government  should 
be  supplied.  There  rests  upon  us  the  supreme  obligation  of 
a  just,  resourceful  and  prosperous  people. 

The  fact  that  in  the  opinion  of  these  Plaintiffs  their  assess- 
ments are  too  high,  does  not  justify  them.  Though  it  might 
be  the  opinion  of  this  enlightened  tribunal  that  the  property 
of  the  Plaintiffs  was  over-assessed,  this  would  be  no  justifica- 
tion for  this  injunction.  Differences  of  opinion  always  occur, 
and  unless  this  Court  shall  find  that  there  was  some  scheme 


278  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

or  plan  or  conspiracy  by  the  taxing  authorities  of  the  State 
to  discriminate  against  the  Plaintiffs,  this  injunction  must 
be  denied. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  said  in  Chicago 
Railway  Company  v.  Babcock,  204  U.  S.,  585:  "A  point  less 
pressed  than  the  foregoing  was  that  the  other  property  in 
the  State  was  greatly  undervalued,  and  that  thus  the  rule  of 
uniformity  prescribed  by  the  Constitution  had  been  violated. 
Upon  this  matter  it  is  enough  to  say  that  no  scheme  or  agree- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  County  Assessors  who  taxed  the 
other  property  was  shown,  or  on  the  part  of  the  Board  of 
Equalization  and  Assessment."  And  the  Court  said:  "We 
have  nothing  to  do  with  complaints  of  that  nature,  or  with 
anything  else  than  fraud  or  a  clear  adoption  of  a  funda- 
mentally wrong  principle." 

Coulter  v.  Louisville  &  Nashville  Ry.  Co.,  196 

U.  S.,  599; 
L.  &  N.  Ry.  Co.  v.  Greene,  244  U.  S.,  536; 
State  Railroad  Tax  Cases,  92  U.  S.,  610 ; 
Pittsburgh,  etc.,  R.  R.  Co.  v.  Backus,  154  U.  S., 

421. 

As  stated  above,  these  Plaintiffs  do  not  allege  any  fraud 
or  scheme  or  disposition  or  intention  by  the  taxing  authorities 
of  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  and  none  could  be  truthfully 
alleged,  and  yet  they  ask  this  Court  to  exercise  the  extra- 
ordinary power  of  the  chancellors  to  halt  the  program  of  the 
State,  and  interfere  with  the  administration  of  our  govern- 
ment. 

In  the  language  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Ohio  Tax 
Cases,  232  U.  S.,  576:  "The  present  act  does  not  on  its  face 
manifest  a  purpose  to  interfere  with  interstate  commerce, 
and  we  are  unable  to  accept  the  historical  facts  alluded  to  as 
sufficient  evidence  of  a  sinister  purpose,  such  as  would  justify 
this  Court  in  striking  down  the  law.  We  could  not  do  this 
without  in  effect  denouncing  the  Legislature  of  the  State  as 
guilty  of  a  conscious  attempt  to  evade  the  obligations  of  the 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  279 

Federal  Constitution."  That  is  what  these  Plaintiffs  are 
asking  of  this  Court.  If  the  State,  by  an  unconstitutional 
statute  or  if  her  officials  by  any  unlawful  and  sinister  methods, 
have  attempted  to  dispoil  these  Plaintiffs  under  the  forms  of 
law,  then  they  should  be  commanded  to  stop  to  our  discredit 
and  humiliation. 

We  earnestly  submit  that  there  is  no  justification  for  this 
injunction,  no  jurisdiction  for  it  in  the  law  or  in  equity. 

We  have  an  abiding  regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  Plaintiffs. 
They  are  essential  and  integral  elements  of  our  life  and 
progress.  They  are  manned  and  controlled  by  men  of  pa- 
triotism and  great  ability.  It  is  for  this  reason  more  to  be 
regretted  that,  as  we  contend  for  reasons  totally  unjustifiable 
and  at  variance  with  the  law  and  the  facts,  they  have  placed 
themselves  in  antagonism  to  the  authorities  of  the  State,  for 
the  welfare  of  none.  We  have  the  greatest  respect  for  their 
able  counsel,  but  when  examined  in  the  light  of  facts  and  law 
and  equity,  their  case  is  a  case  of  "shreds  and  patches." 

We  live  in  a  time  of  larger  conception  and  higher  ideals. 
The  Great  War  convulsed  the  world  with  desolation,  and  woe, 
but  it  awakened  the  conscience  of  men,  and  enlisted  all  classes 
and  conditions  in  universal  fellowship  of  self-denial  and  sacri- 
fice, even  unto  the  Supreme  Sacrifice.  It  enlarged  and  sancti- 
fied our  conceptions  of  human  relations,  and  human  obligation. 
It  extended  the  frontiers  of  our  patriotism  and  sympathy  to 
the  frontiers  of  humanity;  for  we  realized  that  Nations  and 
the  Oppressed  of  Nations  are  too  of  our  tribe  and  kindred. 
We  sent  two  million  of  our  sons  across  a  thousand  leagues  of 
sea  to  unfurl  a  star-lit  Flag  for  the  emancipation  and  for  the 
redemption  of  mankind.  It  was  the  altruism  of  a  mighty  race, 
grown  militant. 

Let  this  awakened  spirit  of  altruism  move  with  quickening 
power  for  the  homeland. 

Our  Governor  has  sounded  the  clear,  strong  note  of  the 
new  day.  With  faith  and  courage  he  has  called  the  Old  North 
State  to  the  front  line  of  advancing  civilization  for  the  greatest 
accomplishment  of  her  history.     He  has  put  to  silence  the 


280  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

prophets  of  pessimism,  the  conservitors  of  stagnation.  The 
people  have  responded  with  the  pulsations  and  with  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  Great  Age.  Even  today  the  landholders  are 
paying  of  their  necessities  the  increased  taxes  for  the  larger 
public  good.  They  are  the  bulwarks  of  the  State.  They  are 
the  heirs,  loyal  and  lineal,  of  the  "Embattled  Farmers"  of 
Guilford  Court  House.  These  Plaintiffs  alone  obstruct  and 
resist.    "They  alone  break  from  the  Van  and  the  Freemen." 

We  have  the  abiding  faith  that  this  magnificent  concep- 
tion and  program  will  not  be  deranged  and  crippled  by  a 
judgment  of  this  Court,  that  the  orderly  processes  of  govern- 
ment will  not  be  discredited,  nor  the  confidence  of  the  people 
therein  be  shaken  by  uncertainty  and  distrust. 

With  victorious  assurance  let  us  do  the  task  of  our  time, 
in  the  hope  that  our  children  may  come  to  the  realization  of 
the  "Golden  Age  of  which  poets  have  sung,  and  high-raised 
seers  have  told  in  metaphor." 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  281 


BISHOP  KILGO 

(June  21st,  1922) 

NOTE:  The  farewell  to  the  members  of  the  National  Army  was 
Governor  Craig's  last  public  speech.  He  has  from  time  to  time,  how- 
ever, been  heard  through  the  press.  Of  Bishop  Kilgo  he  wrote  the 
following  tribute: 

"Bishop  Kilgo  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  greatest  preacher  of 
the  age.  I  have  heard  many  powerful  men.  Bishop  Wilson 
was  a  man  of  tremendous  force,  moving  and  exalting;  Dr. 
J.  L.  Curry  was  a  cyclone,  sweeping  all  with  eloquence  and 
power.  George  Truitt  is  a  wonder.  He  stirs  great  congrega- 
tions and  makes  strong  men  tremble  and  weep  with  emotion. 

"I  have  heard  Talmadge,  Dr.  Hawthorne  and  other 
preachers  and  platform  speakers  of  world  reputation,  but,  at 
his  best,  I  rank  Bishop  Kilgo  first  of  all.  I  have  heard  him 
many  times  and  he  always  had  fine  thought  and  eloquence  of 
original  grand  conception.  On  one  occasion  I  heard  him  at 
his  best,  and  had  I  not  heard  him  then  I  would  never  have 
known  him.    That  was  before  he  was  Bishop. 

"The  General  Conference  was  held  that  year  in  Tennessee 
and  many  preachers  passed  through  Asheville  on  their  way 
home,  Dr.  Charles  Wesley  Byrd  among  them,  a  rising  star  of 
first  magnitude  in  Methodism.  He  and  Dr.  Kilgo  were  con- 
sidered rivals  in  this  section. 

"There  had  been  a  contention  between  the  late  Colonel 
J.  P.  Kerr  and  myself  as  to  who  was  the  greater,  Byrd  or 
Kilgo.  Colonel  Kerr  was  a  man  of  the  finest  ability  and  char- 
acter.   He  had  to  be  known  to  be  appreciated. 

"On  one  Saturday  he  came  to  me  and  told  me  that  Charles 
Wesley  Byrd  would  stop  over  and  preach  here  tomorrow  and 
he  wanted  me  to  go  and  hear  him — saying  he  was  'loaded'  and 
would  unlimber  his  biggest  gun.  I  told  him  that  I  would  go 
with  him,  and  that  I  had  seen  the  announcement  that  Dr. 
Kilgo  would  preach  here  Sunday  night  and  that  we  must  go 
to  hear  him,  too — 'all  right.' 


282  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 

"Dr.  Byrd  was  then  in  the  full  maturity  and  enjoyment  of 
his  physical  and  intellectual  strength.  He  had  attained  to  his 
best.  He  took  as  his  text:  'If  ye  have  not  the  spirit  of 
Christ  ye  are  none  of  His.'  He  made  a  masterly  deliverance — 
strong  and  earnest  in  its  appeal  to  the  mind  and  conscience, 
moving  to  nobler  conceptions  of  life  and  religion. 

"That  night  Dr.  Kilgo  stood  upon  the  same  platform  and 
drolled  out  his  text:  'If  ye  have  not  the  spirit  of  Christ  ye 
are  none  of  His.'  He  did  not  know  that  Dr.  Byrd  had  used 
this  text. 

"For  two  hours,  crescendo,  Dr.  Kilgo  unfolded  with  logic 
and  eloquence  his  inspiring  theme.  He  had  no  limitation  of 
creed  or  dogma.  Emancipated  from  all  theologies,  free  as  an 
angel,  with  glowing  metaphor  and  intellectual  daring  he  swept 
into  realms  of  subtle  and  sublime  thought.  In  the  rapt  vision 
of  a  seer  he  spoke  like  a  prophet  sent  from  God — His  minister 
plenipotentiary  to  deliver  His  ultimatum  to  the  world — the 
message  of  infinite  love  and  divine  redemption. 

"As  Colonel  Kerr  and  I  walked  out  I  asked  him  what  did 
he  think  of  that.  He  replied:  'Of  course,  nobody  else  can 
preach  that  way.' 

"As  to  forms  and  dogmas,  Bishop  Kilgo  appears  to  be 
orthodox  after  the  straitest  sect.  When  he  gives  expression 
in  his  big,  original  way,  to  some  dogma  of  the  mediaeval 
councils  the  benches  of  the  clericals  and  deacons  resound 
with  'Amen'  and  sanctimonious  groans.  With  thankfulness 
they  hear  the  enunciation  of  traditions — tottering  with  age — 
by  this  great  thinker  and  preacher  who  speaks  with  authority 
and  not  as  the  Scribes. 

"The  finest  funeral  sermon  I  ever  heard  was  by  Dr.  Kilgo 
on  Charles  B.  Aycock.  He  loved  Aycock  as  one  fine  spirit 
loves  another.  Aycock  had  defended  him  in  his  famous  trial 
and  the  severest  ordeal  of  his  life — Gattis  vs.  Kilgo — un- 
equaled,  certainly  never  surpassed  in  our  forsenic  history. 
His  enemies  sought  to  compass  his  destruction.  Cy  Watson 
led  the  prosecution,  the  trained  gladiator  of  the  forum,  en- 
dowed with  humor,  logic,  powerful  invective — all  the  prowess 
of  the  master.     Aycock,  the  defender  of  Kilgo — Aycock  was 


MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES  283 

in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  majesty  of  his  manhood — in- 
tellect like  the  Scimitar  of  Saladin — gifted  with  eloquence  and 
resistless  persuasion. 

"When  he  closed  his  speech,  Kilgo  threw  his  arms  around 
him,  pressed  him  to  his  bosom,  weeping  with  profound  and 
grateful  emotion. 

"Now  Aycock  was  dead.  The  eloquent  lips  were  hushed 
in  the  pale  repose.  When  the  funeral  cortege  entered  the 
church,  Dr.  Kilgo,  with  a  large  group  of  distinguished  min- 
isters, occupied  the  platform,  Kilgo  the  conspicuous  and 
central  figure.  He  stood  like  a  fine  marble  statue,  unmoved, 
with  fixed  gaze,  beholding  the  eternal  mystery.  Yet  in  form 
and  chiseled  feature  and  eye  expressive  of  the  awe  and  be- 
reavement of  a  State  mourning  for  her  best  beloved  son.  He 
presented  a  worthy  conception  of  Aycock.  He  had  felt  and 
he  knew  the  pulsations  of  the  heart  of  his  dead  friend.  He 
told  of  his  princely  personality,  his  passion  for  justice  and 
truth,  his  fellowship  and  sympathy  for  men,  the  qualities 
that  made  him  the  trusted  and  idolized  leader,  the  preacher 
of  the  new  Gospel  of  universal  enlightenment  and  liberation. 

"Dr.  Kilgo,  in  my  opinion,  in  his  younger  days,  was  un- 
bending in  his  own  convictions  and  his  determination  to  en- 
force them — aggressive — an  autocrat — intolerant  of  opposi- 
tion. Opposition  to  him  was  heresy.  Had  he  lived  in  the 
days  of  priestly  power  he  would  have  persecuted  the  heretics. 

"But  he  is  not  a  Pharisee,  not  a  Levite,  withal  he  is  a 
priest  after  the  order  of  Melchisedeck." 


284  MEMOIRS  AND  SPEECHES 


GOVERNOR  CRAIG  has  now  for  some 
months  been  ill  at  his  home  near  the 
Swannanoa  River  attended  con- 
stantly by  his  devoted  wife  and  little  son, 
Locke  Craig,  Jr.  Crowds  of  friends  and  ad- 
mirers visit  him  in  his  home,  and  draw  from 
his  presence  the  inspiration  of  old.  He  re- 
ceives them  all  in  his  ever  gracious  spirit  of 
friendship,  and  never  turns  a  deaf  ear  to 
the  unfortunate.  The  beautiful  example  of 
his  patience  in  suffering  doubly  endears  him 
to  all  his  people,  and  the  lesson  he  is  giving 
them  is  more  eloquent  than  speech. 

— M.F.J. 


